Spotted Glory
by Captain Cassie
Summary: All Eva Kavanaugh wanted to do was buy back her old horse, but after a twist of events, will she settle for her old mare's wild eyed, yet famously bred, filly?
1. Chapter One: The Filly

Disclaimer: I don't own The Black Stallion. If I did, I wouldn't be broke. I do however own all original characters and ideas within this story. Real horses, such as Dawndee, Old Painter, Secretariat and others, are mentioned within this story. Like the The Black Stallion, I don't own them either. Again, it's the whole "no money" thing.

Author's Note: This is my first Black Stallion fic and the first thing I've slapped up here on in a long time. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.

"Are you sure you want another horse?"

Dan couldn't have sounded more apprehensive if he tried. The middle aged man ran a calloused hand through his salt-and-peppered hair as he looked down at the papers in front of him. This behavior wasn't unusual in the seasoned trainer, but not common place either. After all, you had to be pretty confidant to become as highly acclaimed of a hunt seat trainer as he'd become here at Robin Glen. Okay, so maybe he wasn't really "highly acclaimed", but he was Dan Alverro- mentor to riders near and far and teacher to horses here and there, provided they were within driving distance of the moderately sized southern Colorado stable.

"Why do you think I brought this with me?" Eva said, pulling the checkbook out of the back pocket of her black Wranglers and slamming it down on the tack room table. "Now out with it. Did you find Rainy or didn't you?"

As he breathed in a deep sigh, Eva Kavanaugh feared the worst. She was dead wasn't she? Her poor old mare! Probably in the worst of ways too! Did she get shipped off to auction, then to a slaughter house from there? It was impossible; she was such a noble little mare. Although she was an Appaloosa, she had all the caliber, ability and heart of those fancy warmbloods. Sure, she wasn't as big or finely boned, being Foundation bred, and she could have a wicked stubborn streak to her, but she'd been an amazing jumper and later eventer in her day. What if it was worse? Maybe Dan had tracked her down, but her current owners refused to sell her! It might be more comforting to know that she was dead than to lay awake at night breaking her heart for something she could never have.

"I found her but-"

"But what! Oh, you're killing me!"

"Will you hush already? If you'd stop interrupting me…" he mumbled, dropping the almost anxious air he'd had before. "As I way saying, I found her, but I'm sad to say she died last year. Don't worry it wasn't anything horrible. She had a bad bout of colic and the vet put her down. I think I have some good news though."

"You think?"

"A year before she died, she'd had foal. A right pretty little filly by a Thoroughbred stallion over in Kentucky, colored almost like her momma too. She's for sale."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Eva exclaimed, snatching her checkbook and pulling her jacket off the hook on the wall. "Let's go get her! I may have had to give up Rainy, but I'm not going to let her baby pass me by!"

His breath caught and that anxious look crept into Dan's eye again. "Are you really sure about this, Eva? I mean, you have Cozzy and he's still got some good years left on him. Not to mention you're going to be in college this fall! How are you ever going to find the time, and money for that matter, to look after two horses?"

Rolling her eyes, Eva gave him a pointed look as she slipped into her denim jacket. "Give me a break, Dan. She can't be _that_ bad."

Eva could barely contain herself as she stood at the pasture fence with Dan, waiting for Mr. Mitchell, the filly's current owner, to bring her up to meet them. Just from the brief tour she'd received upon her arrival, she had to admit that Robin Glen looked like a backyard operation in comparison to this place. Just to see Blue Mesa Farm, although it'd been quite a long drive, was a treat in itself. Back at home, Robin Glen's indoor arena was considered the talk of the block among the horse facilities in the area, but her home stable was easily put to shame by this farm. Not only did they have two indoor arenas, they also had several outdoor arenas, round pens, a complete cross country course and barns that made five star hotels look like Barbie doll houses. Not to mention the horses! They specialized in colored sport horses, hence why they'd purchased Rainy, and what fine examples they had! They even had an up-and-coming son of Wap Spotted, the popular Appaloosa sport horse siring stallion, out of a Trakehner mare with exquisite lines among their ranks. However, there was no doubt in Eva's mind that Rainy's filly would be better looking than him.

The sound of hooves pounding against the gravel driveway and Mr.Mitchell's shouts caused both Eva and Dan to turn around. Although she'd never admit it, Eva's face paled ever so slightly at the sight before her. Practically dragging the owner of Blue Mesa Farms was an intimidatingly large and wild eyed Appaloosa, bucking, rearing and shying away every other step. If Eva hadn't known better, she would've sworn that this yearling, as impressive in appearance as she may be, acted more like a terribly unruly studcolt. Was this really Rainy's filly? Her mare had had a stubborn streak to her, but never had the Appaloosa mare acted even remotely like this! The filly's actions were deceiving, but her looks definitely told of her relation to Rainy. Both were a black-blue color, although the filly was already showing signs of roaning out, with large white blankets extending to their withers and dotted with fist size, peacock spots. A thin white stripe had trailed down Rainy's nose, eventually tapering off into something looking like a rain drop. While the filly had no markings on her face, she did have three white socks like her dam.

So this was all that was wrong- for lack of a better word -with her? Eva'd worked difficult horses for Dan, Terry, the Western trainer at the stables and one of the owners, and Russ, Terry's husband, the other owner and general business manager of the stables. Surely this one would be no different, not by much at least. She did have a real temperamental side to her, but once they got that worked out Eva suspected that she'd be fine. With a reputation such as theirs, Blue Mesa surely didn't abuse their horses and Eva could see that Mr. Mitchell was trying to be very patient with the filly. Eva figured that she just needed someone to give her some undivided attention and she had the whole summer before she'd move the filly and Cozzy upstate for college. The Beatles had said it before and she'd say it again: All you need is love.

"How about I take her to the round pen?" Mr. Mitchell huffed as the filly danced circles around him, now seeming tired of tug o' war games. Despite her first impressions, the filly did have a very feminine, almost dainty look to her as she moved nimbly around her handler. While her Appaloosa, specifically Foundation, breeding was obvious, she wasn't as compactly built as an Appaloosa, with more Thoroughbred type, long legs, a leaner neck and her head, while still possessing a relatively straight Appaloosa type profile, didn't seem as large or heavy as her dam's had. Her high tail carriage and now arched neck almost gave the filly the appearance of an Arabian horse. Just barely though. Rainy'd had some Arabian blood in her through Dawndee, a famous race mare back in her pedigree, whose grandsire was Old Painter, a Foundation stallion by the Arabian, Ferras. Although it was quite possible that Rainy had possessed more Arabian blood in her pedigree, Eva thought it was too little and too far back to have much of an effect on any of her foals.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Mr. Mitchell handed the filly off to a boy, probably a groom or rider, and led his guests to one of the round pens. Despite the fact that the boy, almost in his late teens judging by appearance, looked to be a good few inches shorter than Eva's height of five-foot-six and lithely built, he handled the filly well. Of course, this fact could be attributed to the fact that she'd already worked up a light sweat with Mr. Mitchell, but she didn't seem at all tired. Her neck gleamed slightly more than the rest of her with dampness, but that was the only sign of even a slight fatigue. With a spirited air, she continued to dance around her handler, ducking her head and snorting every so often. She was just hardly older than a baby, but her already well toned muscles rippled beneath her black and white coat. While other yearlings seemed to only be coming into their own and still possessed a sort of juvenile awkwardness, this filly moved like a horse much older than one year. Impressive was only one word to describe her.

Needless to say, Eva was equally impressed by her performance in the round pen. As soon as her handler picked up the lounge whip, she was off. This filly didn't seem to need any motivation to move, which perked Eva's interest. Maybe in a couple years she could make a good eventer? It might be difficult for her to acquire the patience for the dressage portion of the event, but with her speed and agility she could easily fly through cross country courses and save her a few seconds in the show jumping arena. It wasn't necessarily her prowess that caught Eva's attention, but rather her unique way of moving. Instead of moving her feet diagonally at a trot, she opted to move at a lateral pace, the Indian Shuffle, which her dam had possessed herself. It was likely that Rainy, being a Foundation bred, would have this gait that had been treasured by the Nez Percé and cowboys alike, but the odds were against her crossbred filly possessing the rare gait. Her fiery temperament, coltish antics, and willful attitude didn't matter at all the Eva- she knew right now that she had to have Rainy's filly.

"I can't believe you'd waste money on a horse like that," Dan grumbled as he guided the Ford pickup down dirt road leading from the farm.

Wistfully, Eva looked out the back window of the truck, resenting the fact that they hadn't brought the horse trailer. She probably wouldn't have been able to take the filly home with her today anyways, but it would've been a nice idea to entertain. Pulling a stray lock of auburn hair back into her ponytail, she gave Dan a look bordering on the lines of irritation. "Dan, you've been like a second father to me and the other girls since we started riding at Robin Glen. I think you'd learn to respect my decision," she replied, looking through the handful of papers Mr. Mitchell had given her. Among them, he's given her Rainy's papers, keeping a photocopy for his records, and a copy of the filly's sire's papers.

"I know that you adored Rainy, but her filly is nothing like her. She's wild eyed and rebellious."

"But she was a steal at three hundred! Imagine what some of their other yearlings go for!"

"The only reason her price was that low is because she's not good for anything but trouble."

Eva rolled her blue eyes and flipped through the papers, pulling out the copy of the filly's sire's papers. The filly wasn't registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club yet and, although it might cost her an arm and a leg to register her this late, Eva had her heart set on giving the filly a proper name. She knew Rainy's papers by heart and still recalled the mare's registered name, Apache Rainy Dawn. With that in mind, she wanted to combine both of the filly's parent's pedigrees, as was traditional in the naming of horses. Just glancing at the Thoroughbred stallion's pedigree, Eva could see that Blue Mesa Farm must have paid a fortune for the stud fee, only making the filly's cheap price even more of a bargain. His name was Clearly Dark and he was a grandson of Cryptoclearance on his dam's side. Also through his dam, he was related to such greats as Personal Ensign and Secretariat. His top side wasn't any less magnificent.

"Hey Dan, get this! The filly's related to The Black!"

The screeching sound of the brakes filled the cab of the truck and both passengers were jolted to a stop. Behind them, a car narrowly missed colliding with them and, a few shouted obscenities later, swerved around the still vehicle. Dan was oblivious to this, however, judging by the utterly shocked look on his face.

"You're kidding me, right? Please Ev, say you're kidding me. I don't need a heart attack."

Shoving the paper in front of his nose, Eva tapped a finger to The Black's name, boldly printed on Clearly Dark's papers. "Nope, see for yourself."

Dark brown eyes sparkling with wonder, Dan gingerly took the paper from her as if it were delicate and invaluable, surely to shatter at any given moment. Surely enough, the famed stallion was printed as Clearly Dark's grandsire, making him the great grand sire of Eva's new filly. The middle aged trainer could hardly believe it. That horse was the stuff only dreams were made of and people paid a lot to own a piece of that dream. As race horses, his descendants sold for thousands, if not millions, of dollars. He'd only heard of a few of his progeny that had careers off the track, namely the geldings, and they still went for an awfully pretty penny. It wasn't just the bragging rights that you owned a horse related to the great Black that provided motive for people to spend countless amounts of money on a single horse. These horses were almost always blessed with their famous ancestor's heart and even the less handsome of his progeny found a career, mostly on the track.

"Well, Ev, I hate to admit it but I've been defeated. You might just have a good horse on your hands."


	2. Chapter Two: A Home Coming & A Name

Author's Note: Thank you everybody for all the reviews! It's really great to know people are reading and enjoying your work and the advice is very much appreciated. If you guys keep reviewing, I'll keep writing! Well, with that said and done, on to the story.

Throwing the final bale of straw into the stall, Eva fell down with an exhausted sigh. Today was the day that the filly was coming home and she'd been preparing ever since this morning. After she'd retrieved the keys to her truck from Jake- her twenty-two year old brother who'd borrowed her truck to take his Quarter Horse mare, Molly, to a team penning practice the night before -she'd dashed off to the tack store. She'd had her eyes set on purchasing a new caveson and training surcingle with side reins for the filly, she'd settled on the bare essentials: a new halter and lead rope. As for a blanket, she'd rummaged through some of the old tack in the attic and found the blanket Jake had bought for Molly before she'd hit her growth spurt. Since the filly was only a yearling, she couldn't think of anything else that she'd need right now. Eva had no intention of doing anything else but lounging her until next spring when she'd be a two year old.

"So, where's this wonder horse of yours?" Leigha Calhoun, Eva's best friend, asked as she held out a treat for Cozzy, the big gray gelding in the next stall over.

"Dan's bringing her down today. He should be here soon," Eva answered, pulling out her pocket knife to cut the twine that held the bale of straw together.

"Terry was saying that Dan said that she's a real spitfire with some racing lines to her," Leigha said with a clever look to her eye. "Any truth to the rumor that her sire was a big, jet black stallion?"

Spreading the straw across the recently scrubbed floor of the stall, Eva cast a secretive glance over her shoulder. "Well, I know her sire had some modest lines."

"Oh, come on, Ev! Secrets don't make friends," Leigha begged.

"Well, let's see," Eva said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. " There are, of course, all the Appaloosas in Rainy's pedigree. Clearly Dark, her sire, has Cryptoclearance, Secretariat, The Black…"

"The Black!" Leigha cried. "You mean _The_ Black? The race horse who blew away Cyclone and Sun Raider in the '40s?"

"Are there any others I should know about?"

Flabbergasted, Leigha poked her head into the stall to see if her friend looked serious. Sure enough, Eva had a rather pleased grin on her face and a lighted look in her blue eyes that told Leigha that she was telling the truth. Eva had all the luck! "Heck, with a horse like that, what do you need this old nag for?" she joked, jabbing a thumb in Cozzy's direction. Almost as if he had understood her, the thirteen year old dapple gray snorted and butted Leigha's shoulder.

Finishing with the stall, Eva let herself out and latched the door behind her. Standing in the aisle, she looked at Leigha and Cozzy, bestowing more of an affectionate look upon the latter. A year after she'd been forced to sell Rainy, Dan had introduced Eva to Cozzy. When she'd first seen him, he hadn't really been much to look at. His former owner had been more of a backyard equestrian so he hadn't been meticulously groomed and he'd had a hay belly to him. Regardless though, she'd fallen in love with the sweet tempered gelding. After a few months of schooling and relentless sessions with a curry comb, the 16.2 hand, dappled gray, Percheron-Trakehner cross had proved to be quite the horse. With a little refresher course, he became a fantastic jumper and coupled with his docile temperament and smooth gaits, he made a striking hunter under the suitable show name Cause For Surprise. If it hadn't been for him, Eva would've never gotten that riding scholarship.

"I think I'm rather fond of the old man," Eva replied softly, scratching the gelding behind the ears. "Plus, it'll be a year or maybe more before the filly can get settled under saddle. I have to have something to ride on the equestrian team next year!"

"'The filly'? Is that what you're going to call her? The Black may have worked for her grandsire, but The Filly doesn't really leave much room for the imagination and it won't fit when she's a mare!"

"I haven't really thought of anything yet. I thought about Dark Dawn, but it seems too simple," Eva said, sitting on the tack box in front of Cozzy's stall and scooting over to make room for Leigha.

"Yeah, you're right," Leigha mused as she took a seat. "I like the sound of Dark Dawn though, it gives a sort of mysterious sense and it fits her color. Maybe you can couple it with something else? Something unique to her?"

"Well, Dan did say she was trouble. Dark Dawn Trouble, how does that sound to you?"

Leigha gave her friend a pointed look. "It sounds like you're asking for trouble to me."

The sound of truck tires on the gravel drive interrupted the girls' brainstorming. In a flash, they were both up on their feet and hurrying out of the barn to greet the white horse trailer that had Robin Glen Stables' name and logo emblazoned on the side. Dan, looking rather weary from the long day's drive, slid out of the truck and stretched, only giving the girls a passive glance.

"Did you get her? Is she here?" Eva questioned, looking anxiously at the trailer.

She didn't need to wait for an answer from Dan though, for a high pitched whinny from the trailer answered her well enough. Jogging to the back of the trailer, she quickly undid the latch and stepped aside as the door swung open. Craning her neck back as far as her lead rope would permit, the filly looked at Eva with expressive hazel eyes, the white sclera surrounding them- an Appaloosa trait inherited from her dam –only making them more beautiful in her opinion. Talking softly to the filly, Eva slowly ran her hand across the thin, blue shipping blanket as she made her way to the filly's head. Unlike some other horses her age, the filly seemed unperturbed by the long trailer ride and was more concerned with whether or not Eva's shirt was edible or not. Laughing, she untied the filly's lead rope and led her from the trailer. As she approached the edge of the trailer, the filly stopped and looked at the ground below her. It wasn't that long of a hop to the ground, but she still looked unsure. But with some coaxing by Eva and the promise of company from the resounding neighs within the barn, the filly worked up the courage to leap from the trailer.

Regaining her bold composure, the filly pranced and held her head high as Eva led her over to Leigha. "Here she is, in all her glory."

"Glory!" Leigha exclaimed, smiling. "That's what you should name her, Glory!"

Looking from her friend to her filly, Eva contemplated the name. The word itself held a certain amount of majesty that really did fit the filly, but it also had an effeminate quality, without being too girly. Why hadn't she thought of it before? It was the filly's perfect match!

"Dark Dawn Glory, what do you think, girl?" Eva asked, looking up at the filly.

In response, the filly gave another trumpeting call, holding her head high and standing regally. "I think she likes it!" Eva laughed, running her fingers through Glory's coarse mane. Even though she'd only seen Glory's famous great grandsire in pictures, Eva was willing to bet good money that her filly must look a lot like him right now with that proud, dignified and independent air about her.

Closing the screen door behind her, Eva trudged into the house, feeling almost suffocated by the heat. Mid summer in Colorado was always hot, but today had seemed especially ruthless. The indoor arena had been booked for a small schooling show for some of the younger students at the stable this afternoon, so Eva and Leigha had to take their small class of students to outdoor arena for their lessons. Summers were always extra busy around the stable so Terry had taken the two eighteen year olds, who had both been riding at the stable since they were ten, on as part time riding instructors for some of the lower level classes, along with entrusting them with the training and exercising of a few of the show horses. Neither of them minded at all, even when they had to work in the middle of a hot summer afternoon. The work they did at Robin Glen went to pay for their horses' boarding fees and the riding lessons they took themselves. Eva could've kept her horses at home with Molly and her mother's two broodmares, but boarding Cozzy and now Glory at Robin Glen made it easier for her to keep them both in training, what with Dan to assist her and facilities more advanced than the fenced pasture at home.

Setting her keys down on the kitchen table, Eva walked to the refrigerator in search of sustenance. Much to the Appaloosa's dislike, Eva had stolen one of Glory's carrots as a mid morning snack, but now her stomach was grumbling and a nice, cold soda wouldn't do her any bad either. Grabbing a container of chicken salad, some wheat bread and a Pepsi, Eva shut the fridge door with a tap of her foot. Setting the items down on the counter, she began to look through the cabinets for a plate and a glass.

"Eva, is that you?" A voice chimed into the kitchen, probably from the direction of the den.

"Yeah, Mom. I just got home," Eva shouted back, extracting a plate from the cabinet and checking the dishwasher for a clean glass.

Walking into the kitchen, Mrs. Kavanaugh sorted through the stack of mail in her hands. Although she had a few strands of gray hair, it was obvious where Eva had gotten her wavy reddish auburn hair. Like typical mothers and daughters, Eva and Martha Kavanaugh possessed other similarities, like height and build. It was quite obvious though that Eva had her father's crystalline blue eyes and lacked in her mother's gracious femininity, being quite the tomboy. Of course, that probably came from growing up with her two older brothers, Jake and Colin.

"This came for you in the mail today," her mother casually remarked, handing the letter to Eva. "It's from the ApHC and I bet you it's Glory's papers."

Abandoning her sandwich and soda, Eva wasted no time in ripping apart the envelope. Ever since she'd sent away Glory's registration papers a couple weeks ago, she'd been eagerly awaiting this day. Now Glory was a fully registered Appaloosa, just like her dam had been. Having a papered horse didn't mean the world to Eva- Cozzy being unregistered didn't matter to her in the least –but recently she'd been cooking up big, and secret, plans for her filly.

Throwing the envelope, which only seemed to remain in one piece by luck of a single thread, on the counter, Eva quickly unfolded the papers that had been enclosed. But there were no registration papers, no pedigree proudly displaying Glory's heritage. Only the returned money order that had been meant to pay the registration fee, the rejected application, the registration pictures Eva had sent, and a official looking letter.

"Honey, what is it?" Martha asked, brow furrowing with concern as she looked over at her dumb struck daughter.

"They regret to inform me that Glory cannot be registered," she moaned, leaning back against the counter.

"Did they say why? Surely they have a reason."

Pausing to read the small paragraph, Eva frowned when she spotted the reason. "I didn't enclose a breeder's certificate, saying that Glory's sire really is Clearly Dark. How am I supposed to get one of those? Last time Mr. Mitchell checked Clearly Dark had been leased to a guy in Kentucky and he'd never met the man in person himself- Rainy'd been sent to Kentucky to be bred with a few other mares and his assistant manager."

"Call Mr. Mitchell and see if you can dig up some phone numbers. I'm sure you'll figure this out. If I recall correctly, no girl with a Kavanaugh name was ever discouraged so easily before," Mrs. Kavanaugh consoled, patting Eva on the shoulder.

"Well, let's hope."

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is currently unavailable. Please check the number and try again."

Frustrated, Eva slammed the phone back down. By now, she figured that she'd called just about everyone in the state of Kentucky, looking for the man who'd had Clearly Dark at the time Rainy'd been bred. As it would turn out, the man who had owned him at the time, a Gregory Bantam, had actually been leasing him from a farm in upstate New York. Even though the lease wasn't due to end until next month, tracking down this man had proved about impossible. The most she'd been able to find out was that he had bred and trained hunters and jumpers and that his farm had gone bankrupt a month ago, with a bankruptcy sale following thereafter. Seeing how Mr. Bantam had lost all his money for less than noble reasons, who was to say that he didn't sell off Clearly Dark for some quick cash? For all she knew, the majestic black Thoroughbred stud could be sitting in some feed lot right now awaiting slaughter or some other unsightly fate.

Contacting the Jockey Club had resulted in little more information. She'd found out that Glory's sire had had a good career on the track, but a fractured canon bone had caused him early retirement. He was destined to be a sire of race horses, but after one of his gelding sons won big at some jumping shows on the east coast, he found new fame as a sire of performance horses. His original owner, Hopeful Farm, leased him to Mr. Bantam in Kentucky. The name Hopeful Farm struck a chord of recognition in her mind and after a little research she found that it was the farm that had trained The Black and was now owned in full by Alec Ramsey, since Henry Dailey's death twenty-three years prior. After many unsuccessful attempts to contact Gregory Bantam, Eva looked up the New York phone number. She could only imagine the long distance bill she was running up…

As the ring sounded through the phone, Eva halfway listened to the commotion on the other side of the office door. Shortly after she had returned home, a taxi had pulled up in the drive way and out popped her nineteen year old brother, Colin, who was home for the week. Since he was going to college up in Washington state, he didn't get much of a chance to come home very often so this was a special occasion. Colin had never really been bitten by the horse bug, unlike Jake and Eva. So, while Jake was aiming his degree in ranch management at the local college and working for a man who bred Quarter Horses and Paints and Eva enrolling in pre-vet and classes to help her become a trainer and riding instructor and pulling off a summer job at Robin Glen, Colin was studying acting. In comparison to his siblings, it was a rather "out there" profession to choose, but he'd fallen in love with the prospect of Hollywood and his family supported him.

The phone on the other end of the line kept ringing for what seemed like an eternity and Eva was wondering if she should just hang up. Outside everyone seemed to be having a good time and they were watching a comedy film by the sounds of it. She could always resume her search tomorrow when she got home from work and spend the rest of the evening with her family. Just as she was about to put the phone down, the other line clicked and she could heard grumbling as it sounded like the person on the other end was trying to get his wits about him.

"Hello?" The voice sounded sleepy and rather gruff. Cringing, Eva remembered time differences. While it was only evening here, it was probably much later on the east coast.

"My name is Eva Kavanaugh and I was wondering…" she said apprehensively. Would they be willing to help someone who so rudely woke them up in the middle of the night? "If this is a bad time for you, I can call back tomorrow."

"It's the middle of the bloody night. Would you call that a bad time?" The person, obviously male by the sound of it, asked roughly.

"I'm sorry but I live in Colorado you see and-"

"And you didn't know the time difference?" Despite Eva's apologetic tone, the man didn't seem consoled in the least. "If you're looking to buy a foal, you're going to have to come to the farm. We don't ship babies and don't care how much you're paying. Don't ask if we have any older horses for sale, because we don't."

"No, I'm actually calling about the stallion, Clearly Dark. I have a-"

"He's not standing at stud right now and especially not to any more cow pony mares."

"Well, if you'd let me finish!" Eva huffed, beginning to get annoyed. She could understand that the man might be irritated, but that was no excuse to be flat out rude.

"You expect me to show you a shred of decency when you call in the middle of the night when any sane person is asleep?" he growled back at her.

"Look," she began, her tone stern. "I have a filly who is sired by him, out of my old Appaloosa mare. I just want to register my horse and to do that all I need is a little signature from you, the owner, to do that. I don't think I'm asking too much."

"You're telling me that a stallion like Dark, a grandson of The Black, sired some ragamuffin, half-bred Appy horse?" he laughed sardonically. "I'll believe it when I see it."

And then the line went dead.


	3. Chapter Three: Hopeful Farm

Author's Note: In my opinion, this chapter isn't that great, but I'll make up for it next time. As always, constructive critique and reviews in general are more than welcome!

And don't worry, RecorderOfRedwall, he'll get his just desserts sooner or later!

A chill hung in the early morning air, but the already bright sun on the horizon held the promise of a warm day. How warm, one couldn't say, but with a cold front and precipitation on the way, everyone hoped that it wouldn't be as dry and humid as the summer had been so far. Misty morning dew, not yet evaporated by the sun, clung to the blades of grass. With precipitation lacking these few weeks in June, a dry yellow singed the edges of the normally green foliage. Dry, yellow edges or not, Glory seemed more intent on devouring those than standing still for pictures.

"Maybe you should hold her, Ev, and I take the photos," Leigha suggested, struggling to hold onto the lead rope as the filly lunged for another tasty looking patch of grass.

Drawing up one corner of her mouth in a halfway disapproving look, Eva handed the camera over to Leigha. Looking rather relieved, Leigha tucked some of her curly blonde hair behind her ear and took a few steps away from Eva and Glory. It wasn't that she was an incompetent horsewoman- she'd ridden her Thoroughbred cross mare, Mickey, to great heights –but Glory just didn't seem to have an affinity for drawing approval from her handlers. If the filly didn't have a motive for doing something for herself, she didn't see the need to do it at all. Eva, who spent every ounce of her free time with the filly, seemed to be the only one who could truthfully coax her into doing anything. "Coax" happened to be the key word there. Whether it was her lines, the fact that she hadn't been as extensively handled as the other foals at Blue Mesa Farm, or just her personality, but Glory was independent and determinedly so.

"Come on, girl. Get your head up here," Eva said, tugging at the lead rope. For a moment, Glory seemed indecisive whether or not she wanted to comply. After giving it a few seconds thought, she tore up one more mouthful and lifted her head, idly chewing on her mid-morning snack.

As Leigha snapped pictures of the yearling, Eva couldn't help but admire her horse. Maybe it was her biased opinion, but she firmly believed that Glory was the most beautiful horse in the stable- Cozzy coming in a very close second of course. This morning she'd arrived at the stable extra early, 4:45 am to be precise, just so she'd have enough time to groom the filly to a shine. Since Glory had taken a romp in the dust and dirt in the pasture the other day with Cozzy and a few of her other stablemates, a bath was the first order of business. Unlike Cozzy, who abhorred any form of clean water and soap, Glory had thoroughly enjoyed the splishing and splashing, especially the part where Eva got soaked.

Her shining coat, the product of a careful grooming following her bath, only looked more stunning than before in the gentle morning light. The white blanket, now free of any unattractive dirt spots, contrasted pleasingly with her black spots and the roan edge to her spots were more visible than they had been before. Ebony couldn't even match the luster and color of her coat, now with no dust or dead hair to dim the blue-black shine. Even her striped hooves and moderately mottled skin, both significantly Appaloosa traits, were more obvious with a good cleaning.

"I think I got some good shots," Leigha said as she tucked the camera away in her pocket. "Didn't you want to get a video of her in the round pen? I brought my camcorder just in case."

"Leigha, I have no idea what I'd do without you, you're brilliant!" Eva laughed.

"Anything for a friend who's out to show up some stuck up race horse breeders. Who says you have to have money and impeccably pure lines to have good horses?" Leigha replied. As soon as Eva had told her about her call to Hopeful Farm, she'd set her heart on helping Eva get that signature for the breeder's certificate. If there was any horse that deserved to be registered, it was Glory. The Appaloosa Horse Club should've jumped at the chance to bring a horse such as Glory into their ranks!

"Showing up race horse breeders? Some how I doubt that's a good idea, " Dan said cautiously, stepping up to the girls. He had a bridle slung over one arm and a cup of coffee clutched in the opposite hand, hinting that he'd only just arrived at the stable. "You came here a whole hour and a half early. Please tell me you two- three I suppose I should say –aren't raising any sort of trouble."

"Just trying to get Glory registered, that's all," Eva responded, a false innocence to her voice.

"I thought you sent in the papers several weeks ago. Shouldn't you have gotten the papers back by now?" Dan asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. It all seemed to be above any suspicion and that's what worried him.

"Her registration had been denied because I didn't have a breeder's certificate signed by the stallion owner."

"That shouldn't be so hard," Dan said, pausing to take a sip of his coffee. "Just tell them your situation and you can send them the papers to sign."

"Don't you think I already tried that? They don't believe me."

"What are you proposing to do now, hm? Send them a Christmas card with a picture of her?" He asked, a sarcastic edge to his voice. He wasn't sure what Eva and Leigha were up to and he wasn't particularly sure it was all that legal either.

"I'm going to New York and forcing them to sign it myself," she casually replied, too casually for the situation at hand.

"What!" Dan shouted, choking on his coffee. "You're driving all the way to New York, by yourself, to get a piece of paper signed?"

"No, Dan," she said matter-of-factly, allowing the trainer a brief moment of consolation. "My mom bought me a round trip plane ticket as an early Christmas present. Don't worry, Leigha said she'd help take on some of my duties while I'm gone and it'll only be for a couple days."

"I've said it once and I'll say it again," Dan said, shaking his head as he turned to walk away. "That filly is trouble."

The afternoon breeze outside John F. Kennedy Airport was very welcome after being cooped up on that plane for most of the day. Eva really couldn't complain since it was a lot more appealing than driving to New York, but she couldn't say she'd ever been much of a fan of flying. Fortunately, she had several days with her feet on the ground before she had to return to the airport and she intended to enjoy every minute of it. Business came first though and she was off to Hopeful Farm.

Fishing the keys to the Ford Explorer she'd rented for her few days here out of her pocket, she unlocked the door and threw her duffel bag on the passenger seat before climbing in herself. A week ago she would've never guessed that she'd be here of all places, but then again, a week ago she'd been expecting Glory to become a registered Appaloosa without a hitch. Her faith in Glory's future registration never faltered though, her whole trip here played testament to that.

Almost half an hour later, she pulled up Hopeful Farm, the famous breeding and training establishment that ranked up there with legends such as Claiborne and Darby Dan. This is it, she thought to herself as she drove up the drive. Bordering the dirt driveway, white fenced pastures filled with horses of all colors- mostly chestnuts and bays, with the occasional black or gray –sprawled over the landscape. Although the farm just outside of Flushing wasn't that big, all of its acreage was put to good use. The pastures looked more like manicured lawns in an upscale neighborhood and the barns she saw as she drove up the hill were immaculate as far as she could tell.

Stepping out of the vehicle, she grabbed the envelope containing all the information she needed to prove Glory's parentage, including a copy of the breeding report that had been filed with the Appaloosa Horse Club, compliments of Mr. Mitchell. "Here goes nothing," she said to herself as she walked up to the farmhouse door. She gave the door a good, loud rapping, but even after several minutes no one rushed to answer the door. After knocking again to no avail, she looked across the property for any sign that someone was home.

Judging by the other vehicles in the driveway, at least one person, if not more, had to be around. Maybe they were in the barn? Jumping down from the porch, she headed towards one of the two large red barns. As she walked in through the open door, she spotted a young man, not too much older than herself, handling a chestnut mare and her bay foal. "Hello?" she said almost hesitantly. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be in here, seeing as it was private property, but the door had been open.

Turning around, the man's hazel eyes fell on her skeptically. They hadn't been expecting any visitors today and the client they had been expecting had come earlier that day. All those options aside, he dreaded dealing with another unannounced visitor. "Yes?"

"I called here a couple days ago," Eva began, fingering through the papers in the envelope. "I was wondering about Clearly Dark."

"I have no idea who that moron in Kentucky advertised him to, but now that Dark's home he's not standing to any more second rate, backyard mares," he said gruffly, sounding like he'd repeated it about a million times.

"No, I already have a filly by him, out of my old Appaloosa mare, Apache Rainy Dawn, but in order to register her, I need a stallion owner's signature on the-"

"Wait, you're the Appaloosa girl?" he asked, sounding incredulous. "Aren't you supposed to be in Colorado?"

"Well, yes, but I flew out here today so I could convince you to sign the breeder's certificate."

"Hey kid, what's going on in here?"

Before the young man had a chance to respond, a newcomer entered the barn. Although she'd never seen him in person before, Eva knew exactly who this man was: Alec Ramsay. She'd seen his picture in a horse magazine not too long ago in an article celebrating Hopeful Farm's continued success since The Black. Despite being at the age in which most men retired, he was a handsome man, even with a significant amount of gray to his red hair and a stern expression to his weathered face.

"We have another unannounced visitor, Dad" he replied. "Says she has a filly by Dark."

Mr. Ramsay's brow furrowed as he gave Eva a questioning glance. "Oh really?"

Taking a deep breath, Eva explained, more to Alec than his son really, her predicament, starting at the beginning with her search for Rainy. While Alec listened politely and seemed interested, his son didn't even feign intrigue. He opted instead to roll his eyes and turn back to the mare and foal he'd been grooming before. She could understand his irritation the night she had called, but it was beyond her why he insisted on acting this way.

"You got any proof?" Alec asked as she finished Glory's story. Eva had proved convincing enough, but you never knew what some people might do just to say they owned a descendant of Black.

"Yes sir," Eva said, pulling the copy of the breeding report, a few other documents and some pictures of Glory out of the envelope and handing it to him.

"You don't have any manners, do you?" Alec said markedly when the young man paused in his work to look over his shoulder. "Probably didn't even introduce yourself.

"That's my son, Griffin," Alec said as he looked over the papers, not even thinking to introduce himself. It seemed illogical to him, since just about everyone who came to Hopeful Farm already knew about him and The Black.

Grudgingly, Griffin held out a hand, Eva taking it with the same disinterest he'd shown her earlier.

"She certainly has the look of the bloodlines about her, spots or not," Alec mused as he flipped through the pictures. "Her profile is a little straighter than some of her relatives, but I like the look of those eyes- nice and expressive. Got a good neck too, nice set, length and build to it. Not the pencil necks I've seen on some other Appaloosas. Deep chest, muscular hindquarters and some nice muscle tone for a yearling. Legs look a little short though and kind of stocky, but she's not really a full blood Thoroughbred, is she?"

"Do you think you could sign the breeder's certificate for me, please?" Eva asked, an unintended edge of uncertainty working its way into her statement.

Mr. Ramsay shrugged. "Don't see why not," he said, taking the paper from Eva and fishing a pen out of his pocket.

Suddenly, Eva felt like she was on a cloud. Now her filly, the horse she was working so hard to ensure a future for, was on the first step to becoming a champion. In retrospect, Eva thought she might be getting ahead of herself, but it never hurt to dream. She had to have some idea of a plan for Glory after all.

"You ever given some thought to racing her? I heard Appaloosa racing is gaining popularity out in the west," Alec asked as he casually looked over the certificate before inscribing his loopy signature on the marked line.

"I've been thinking about, what with her lines."

"Maybe you should take a shot. Maybe she'll be a spotted Secretariat of sorts." Smiling he looked over the paper once more just to make sure he hadn't missed anything and handed it back to her. "Say, you found a hotel yet? It is getting late."

"No, but I did see one on the way into town. I was thinking about checking it out."

"The Rockmore on Main Street?" he asked laughingly. "Don't bother, all that place is good for is playing host to cockroaches. We have a guest bedroom upstairs that hasn't seen much use. It isn't much, but it's free at least."

"And these are the yearlings."

Conversing over dinner and taking a quick look at the video of Glory, Eva and Griffin had managed to establish civility between themselves. Both were adults, after all, and only children bickered over some insane and obscure reason. After she'd helped him with the dishes, he'd offered her a grand tour of the farm. She hadn't had the privilege of ever seeing a racing facility before, but Hopeful Farm, while modest in appearance, was remarkable. Without the fancy- and not to mention very expensive –extra features other stables had, Alec, Griffin and everyone else who worked here raised horses who were of equal, if not better, caliber.

Spotting the two figures leaning against the white pasture fence, the small band of yearlings- five in all –came charging towards them to say hello. Hopeful Farm bred at least three times that many foals each season, but these were the best of the best. These few young horses, along with a few others they might pick up at auctions or private sales, would be the farm's future racers and aspiring champions. Leading the pack was a blood bay colt, his personality just was bold as his color. Even in the fading evening light, his crimson pelt rivaled the magnificence of a ruby. Small, slightly darker blemishes were scattered haphazardly across his back, hindquarters and belly as a promise of dappling later on in his life. A large white snip clashed boldly with the mix of red and black hairs on his nose, while the small ring of white around his hind left foot was hardly visible.

"This is Cartouche," Griffin stated proudly, laying his hand on the blood bay's neck. "He's my colt."

"He's gorgeous," Eva complimented, watching as the dominant colt as he pinned his ears and swing his backend towards a less assertive filly who was getting in his space.

"He had every right to be, it's in his blood. Double bred to The Black, Satan being his great grandsire on his sire's side and Black Minx his great grand dam on his dam's side."

Without a doubt, Cartouche possessed every drop of spectacular blood he was fabled to have. If ever there was a colt meant to be a racehorse, he was it. He had the ideal confirmation: long legs, deep chest, powerful hindquarters, a good neck. Even his slightly dished face, a result of his relation to The Black, seemed destined to have a racing bridle fixed to it and a blanket of roses hoisted over it. Physical attributes aside, it looked like he had the racehorse mentality to boot. Just the way he interacted with the other yearlings proved that he would fight with all he had to get his nose in the lead.

"Come on, I bet you want to go see Dark before we turn in for the night," Griffin said, giving Cartouche one final pat before heading in the direction of another paddock.

Giving a gray gelding a final scratch on the withers, she jogged off in pursuit of Griffin. With his long strides and tall frame, Eva found it hard to believe that he was even related to Alec, who was moderately built with a medium height. In fact, she couldn't help but notice some other differences between the two. While Alec's hair shone red amidst the gray of age, Griffin's gleamed black and even Griffin's hazel eyes even looked different from Alec's. Maybe he was adopted or something like that? She dared not ask though, prying into personal information didn't seem appropriate.

Enclosed in his own personal paddock was a handsome black stallion and Eva could only guess who he was. Defying the high-strung Thoroughbred stallion stereotype, Clearly Dark grazed peacefully, his dark coat dulled from an earlier roll in the dirt. Even from a distance away, Eva could see that he was a big horse- somewhere around sixteen, seventeen hands, maybe? Regardless of his height, he was a slenderly built horse, almost having the look of a hunter to him rather than a racehorse. Or maybe he could go both ways, like much of his offspring had. Maybe one day, when she was all grown up, Glory would be able one, possibly both, of those events? It was something to think about.

A wide blaze raced down his long face, extending all the way down to the end of his upper lip. It almost gave him a pony-like appearance, but Eva knew better than to let appearances deceive her. Sweet face or not, he was still a stallion and an ex-racing Thoroughbred at that. His relation to the Black could add fuel to his possibly fiery temperament too. To accompany his blaze, Clearly Dark has two, diagonal, white socks- one of his left fore and the other on his right hind. He had a large scar running down his right foreleg as a result of the injury that had retired him from the track, but other than that he looked to be in good condition for an aged horse.

As he chomped away on a mouthful of grass, Dark lifted his head to look at his visitors. "Are you coming or aren't you?" Griffin asked the stallion. Snorting, he lowered his head once more to grab another mouthful before slowly ambling over to the fence line. He didn't move with the inelegance of an old or broken down horse, but rather from laziness. When his plodding reached a halt at the fence line, he thrust his nose against Eva's chest, sniffing at the pockets of her windbreaker for a treat.

"That's the old man for you," Griffin laughed as he reached out a hand to run through the thick black forelock.

"Didn't you teach him any manners?" Eva asked, shooing the probing nose away from her.

"Tried to, but Dark's the kind of horse that only behaves when motivated." That sounded a lot like Glory too.

"He doesn't look too much like the Black for being his grandson," Eva remarked, noticing his finer points now up close. His face was slightly dished and slightly smaller than a full-blooded Thoroughbred's, looking similar to Glory's in a way, and his neck looked a little more hooky, like an Arab's. She suspected that he had a flagged tail that Glory would've also inherited from him, but the rest of him looked strictly Thoroughbred.

"Just like with humans, not all children are mixed images of both parents. That and his dam had a habit of throwing foals that looked mostly like her. We suspect that he got his black color from her too, since his sire was a bay," he explained, pulling up some grass and handing it to Dark. "I, on the other hand, have been told that I look a lot like my father."

Griffin laughed at Eva's puzzled look. "Alec's really my stepfather, don't worry I get that look all the time. My mom married him when I was about seven, then had my sisters, Liz and Clara."

Their conversation was cut short when Dark decided he was tired of them both, especially since they didn't have anything for him to eat. Giving an irritated snort, he spun on his hindquarters and sprung into a gallop. As he ran across the field, his hooves tearing up the grass beneath him, she could only imagine what kind of racehorse he had been. Many years ago when he was in his prime, right before the accident she guessed, he must've been a force to be reckoned with on the track. At the same time, he didn't quite run on pure ferocity. As he transitioned to a canter, the grace in his strides became more apparent and the way he carried himself proved that he really did have potential as a sire of show horses.

"What do you say we go have another look at that video you brought?" Griffin suggested, turning towards the house. "I'd like to take a closer look at that shuffle gait, or whatever you called it."

"The Indian Shuffle," Eva corrected, smiling. "And while we're at it, you can pull out Dark's old race records that you promised to show me."

"Fine, fine, but we're looking at the video first."

"You wouldn't be interested in any of those ragamuffin Appy horses, are you?" Eva asked slyly, gently elbowing him.

"With a horse like Cartouche on my hands? Ha! Not likely."


	4. Chapter Four: Reflections & A First Ride

Rhythmically, Glory's striped hooves pummeled the dirt ground of the round pen as she shuffled around in circles, always keeping one eye and one ear on Eva. In the span of one year Glory had changed a lot. After a growth spurt she was closing in on sixteen hands and her blue-black coat was already starting to roan out. Personality wise she was still the same old Glory, save a few aspects. With a little training and affection from Eva, she proved to be more of an attention seeker than a trouble seeker, although her means of getting said attention were sometimes less than adorable or acceptable. Being exactly one year and one month older this February morning, the maturity she was beginning to gain was getting to be more noticeable, but she had her terrible two year old moments.

"Whoa, girl," Eva crooned, lowering the lounge whip. Slowly herself from a shuffle, to a brisk walk, then finally to a halt, Glory turned and looked at Eva. Rather unenthusiastically, her brown eyes peered out from beneath her long, coarse forelock. She knew what was going to happen next. She and Eva had only been doing the same routine since she'd been a yearling. Lounge, tack up, lounge some more, long rein, groom and turn out. Recently, Eva had been starting to stand in the stirrup, gradually getting the filly used to having weight put on her back. At first, Glory had all but jumped the fence, but now it was same old, same old. Today, however, there was something different.

As always, Glory stood patiently while being tacked up. Not even Eva throwing the English saddle on her back fazed her anymore. While she sidestepped a few paces as the girth was tightened, she had no inclination to run away bucking. In the beginning, she'd tried that many times and she could never get the pesky thing off her back. Glory was an intelligent filly for her age, or maybe it was just plain Appaloosa sensibility. Temper tantrums and youthful playfulness put aside, Glory was beginning to become more and more like her dam every day.

Just thinking of Rainy brought on mixed emotions for Eva. She couldn't help but miss her old mare, but if she hadn't sold her she would've never ended up with Glory. When she'd gone on her initial search for the Appaloosa mare, it'd been mostly for sentimental reasons. Rainy had been, after all, her first horse. Sure, she'd cantered around the pastures on her mom's broodmares and done barrel racing and other gaming events with a few before they were completely retired to brood, but it just wasn't the same. Rainy, who'd been a birthday present for her when she was turning eleven, had been solely hers and she didn't have to worry about having to give her up when breeding season came along. Aside from being her very own horse and a best friend, the vividly colored Appaloosa had introduced Eva to riding English disciplines, since Rainy had earned herself a Register of Merit with her former owner and garnered multiple ribbons.

Selling the then sixteen year old mare five years ago had been a hard decision for Eva, but it hadn't really been her choice. Her mother had owned a small Quarter Horse breeding operation, complete with their own well bred mares and Lucky Bug Bar, a Quarter Horse stud Eva's mother had barrel raced successfully with years before. Her father, Rob Kavanaugh, had a steady job as a farrier and, to combine with the profits her mother made off of Bug's stud fees and selling the yearlings, he'd done some horse trading on the side. For as long as she could remember, there had always been a couple horses at a time coming on and off the farm. Occasionally, if she were lucky, her father would let her tack up some of the more docile horses and ponies and take them for rides or show them off to prospective buyers.

Rob Kavanaugh never neglected to get a clean bill of health on the horses he bought before he brought them home, but as fate would have it, the one time he didn't would end in the loss of nearly all the small breeding operation's horses. As always with things so complicated, it started off innocently enough- he'd purchased two off the track Thoroughbreds to resell as show prospects. They were young, lively horses, both the bay gelding and the chestnut mare, who seemed like they couldn't be any healthier if they tried. It was only after he sold them and got a call from the gelding's new owner that he began to worry. While he'd been the picture of perfection a week before, the gelding now was running a high fever, not eating, listless and seemed hardly able to move.

Days after the phone call the Kavanaugh's horses started showing identical symptoms. Three of the five yearlings came down with the same sickness. The mares, however, proved to be the biggest loss. Those bred for the next year aborted their foals and the mares due to foal in only a few weeks more often than not ended up have stillborn foals, only two surviving out of the five, and one dying after it contracted the disease. The disease itself wasn't what had killed their stock. Secondary infections, easily brought on by the weak immune systems, are what spelled the demise for most of the mares, two yearlings and even Lucky Bug Bars. Three of the horses, including one yearling, became so ill that they had to be put down. When it was all done and over with, only two yearlings, two open mares and one mare in foal were left.

Luckily for Rainy, she'd been boarded at Robin Glen throughout the whole ordeal, but that didn't mean that she was safe. There was to be no more horse trading for Eva's father and her mother only managed to sell the yearlings and one of the open mares. Even that hardly managed to pay the vet bills. Despite fourteen year old Eva's protests and pleas, Rainy'd been sold to a trainer looking for another lesson horse, who'd then turned around and sold her to a breeder, who'd then put her to auction and that was how she had ended up with Mr. Mitchell.

After her mother had gone back to work in town and her father had taken a second job, in a year's time Eva was promised another horse. As luck would have it, Rainy was impossible to find. About that time, however, Cozzy was brought to Robin Glen and after finding a Oldenburg mare she liked better, his owner put him up for sale and entrusted Dan with finding a new home for the dapple gray gelding. Much begging and pleading later, Eva purchased the big, kind-hearted gelding.

Heaving a sigh, Eva looked up into Glory's large, inquisitive brown eyes. She wasn't Rainy, but she was the best horse Eva could've ever asked for. Dropping a kiss on her velvety nose, Eva slipped the bridle over the filly's head. Naturally, Glory tossed her head and snorted. After a few moments of chomping at the bit, she didn't usually mind it, but initially that cold, hard hunk of metal in her mouth wasn't very pleasing. When she'd had enough fun evading the bridle and skittering away, Glory finally relented, dropping her head and opening her mouth like a dependable old cow horse. Rolling her eyes, Eva scratched the filly's neck as she slipped the reins over her head. "You're such a drama queen, Glory," Eva teased as she slipped on her riding helmet.

Blowing a snort through her fine nostrils, Glory nudged Eva's chest, almost seeming to agree with her. Smiling, Eva talked to the filly as she put one foot in the stirrup and eventually laying across the filly's back as she'd done before. Used to the sensation, Glory quietly stood in place. After giving the spotted filly time to adjust, Eva swung her other leg over Glory's side. Instantly cautious, Glory froze, every muscle in her body tensing. They'd done this a few times before, but it was still so new. Giving her a few reassuring pats, Eva continued to talk to the filly and comfort her. Tense moments passed before Glory finally took a hesitant step forward. Then she carefully placed another foot in front of her and then another until she was walking confidently- right towards a patch of grass sticking out from under the round pen fence.

Relieved that Glory, true to her nature, would rather choose food over her antics, Eva gently pulled her head away from the grass. But her moment of relief was short lived. As soon as she felt the pressure, however slight it may be, in her mouth, Glory took off at a ground-quaking canter, traveling at a speed too precarious for such a small enclosure. Her continued efforts to try and console the spooked filly did nothing for Eva. Without so much as even flicking an ear back towards her, Glory plowed on at her current speed, oblivious of anything around her.

Eva'd only regained faith in slowing Glory, when the Appaloosa cut a corner too closely and her rider's leg banged against the metal panel. The sound in itself was enough to spook the already scared filly even more. With a buck, crow hop and a final side jump, paired with the already seat jarring incident of the fence hitting her leg, Eva was successfully unseated. Watching as Glory continued her mad dash around the pen, Eva stood up and spit the dirt out of her mouth. Well, it could've been worse.


	5. Chapter Five: Some Crazy Racehorse

Author's Note: Sorry it has taken me forever to get this chapter up- life's been hectic! Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

"Come on, girl," Eva said gently as she tugged on Glory's lead rope. Already an old pro at trailering, Glory daintily hopped down from the trailer. The morning air was warm, but it still had a slight chill to it that was unusual for mid-April. Eva only hoped that it wouldn't rain later on. Being caught in a storm in the middle of a day long trail ride wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she'd volunteered to help out. Since it was a four day weekend, both Eva and Leigha had decided to make the long trip home for the weekend. Initially they had no intentions of bringing any of the horses down with them, but when Dan had called and said he needed some trail guides for an outing he was taking some of his students on, neither could resist. Between homework, classes, work and the college equestrian team, neither had had much time for trail riding.

Tying Glory to the side of the trailer, Eva grabbed her tack out of the side compartment, pausing to help one of the riders with her bridle. Thankfully, it was a small group, of only about five girls, and they were all about twelve or thirteen. A couple summers before Eva had volunteered to help with another trail ride, this one packed with ten seven to eight year olds and some unruly ponies. Needless to say, it'd been chaos defined. Even the stoic Cozzy came home with a bad case of fried nerves.

Glory stood still while Eva threw her ragged, old Stübben on her back. It didn't look so bad really, but the fading leather could do with some re-dyeing and a good hour with the bar of saddle soap. It sufficed though and Eva preferred using it rather than the brand new saddle she'd scrimped every penny together to buy. With the show season just beginning, Eva cringed just to think of something bad happening to her new saddle.

Tossing the reins over the two year old's head, Eva climbed into the saddle and rode up beside Leigha and Mickey and Dan and his old Dutch Warmblood mare, Allegra. Ears pricking forward, Glory pranced to a stop, poking Mickey with her nose. Over the months they'd been stabled together, Glory had taken a liking to the chestnut Thoroughbred-Belgian cross. Mickey, being the haughty mare she was, ignored Glory and tossed her flaxen forelock off of her striped face. Only occasionally did she decide to acknowledge the playful filly.

"Are you sure she'll be okay?" Dan asked skeptically. "She's still awfully green."

"Don't worry, Dan. Glory's a good little girl," Eva reassured, patting the filly on the neck. Bobbing her head, Glory seemed to agree with her rider whole heartedly.

"If you say so," Dan said, still eyeing Glory carefully. "Why don't I take the lead, then Manda and Jenny can follow me? Leigha, you can stay in the middle with Casey since she's lacking a little in confidence, although I think Zeus will take care of her. And Eva, you can bring up the rear behind Blair and Kellyn, just so if Glory acts up she won't be in the middle of things."

Both Eva and Leigha nodded. Although she didn't normally like being at the back of the pack, Eva could understand Dan's concern, whether or not he might be biased. It seemed that ever since they'd first laid eyes on Glory, he'd always been extra critical of her. But with the filly standing quietly on a loose rein right now, Eva didn't know why he continued to be cautious. Surely he trusted her ability to train Glory.

"Diva! Come back here!"

Turning around, Eva spotted Blair attempting to make her seven year old mare, Diva, stand still so she could mount. Before she could go lend a hand, Leigha was already on it, grabbing the reins and quieting the mare. If there were any horse to worry about on this ride, it would be Diva. Although she'd been retired three years before, the bay Thoroughbred still seemed to think herself a race horse. While Blair was one of his more promising students, so Dan had said, the high strung off the track Thoroughbred was quite the handful. But after she'd outgrown her lesson horse and Dan had suggested she look for a more challenging mount, Blair and her father had found this mare at a hunter stable. While she hadn't been Dan's first choice, the mare was loveable enough on the ground and when she calmed in the saddle, she moved nicely with good jumping potential and she'd been in Blair's father's price range. The allure of her having been a note worthy race horse might have been a selling point too.

After having everybody make sure their saddles were tight enough, stirrups long enough and helmets fastened, the group headed off. Only a few clouds dotted the sky and no warning of rain or ill weather was apparent yet. In fact, the sun was now shining brightly and the green leaves of the aspens and other trees whispered as a light breeze blew past. The horses, for the most part, were behaving themselves. Even Glory was being mannerly, save for consistently looking past the horses in front of her and trying to get ahead of them. Smiling, Eva scratched Glory's roaning neck and kept her back, ignoring the annoyed snort.

The ride was going smoothly enough. Even during the lunch break, when calamity seemed most prone to happening, the horses grazed peacefully and the girls refrained from starting any food fights. Aside from pestering Casey for marshmallows, apparently her new favorite treat although Eva had no idea how she'd acquired a taste for them, Glory behaved just as well as an old lesson horse. Now that they were back on the trail, which looped back around to where the trailers were parked, the horses walked calmly, albeit briskly, following the red chestnut Allegra.

"Watch out girls, there's a fallen log up ahead!" Dan shouted back.

Instead of just nodding and plodding ahead, all five girls simultaneously pleaded that they all be given a chance to pop over the log. Around the bend in the trail, Eva could see that it wasn't very big, but she wasn't sure that she'd was to take Glory over it if Dan did decide to let the girls jump it. Fortunately, she could see a way around it. The spunky Appaloosa might be game enough to try, but Eva wasn't risking anything with a young horse.

The pleas were too much for the Dan, who, despite his tough exterior, was really all mushy inside. Even after working with horse crazy kids for years, he still fell for the big eyes and innocent voices, something which both Eva and Leigha had taken advantage of when they had been younger. Of course, the girls were told to go one at a time and to wait for the person ahead of them to clear before they approached the log. This was all repetition for the girls, who heard it every week in their group lessons.

The procession started off with Dan and Allegra, who after clearly the log beautifully, trotted off to the side of the trail to watch the girls make their way over the jumps and help if need be. Next came Manda on her pinto and Jenny on her fuzzy black. Although Mickey seemed eager for her turn, Leigha held her back and let Casey go ahead on the trusty old palomino gelding, Zeus. Although Zeus cantered confidently, Casey's last minute indecision on whether to just go around the log caused the gelding to refuse, nearly throwing the girl over his head. Casey's cheeks glowed red with embarrassment, but Leigha kindly encouraged her to go again. Confused by Casey's indecisiveness, however, Zeus refused again.

As Leigha called Casey over for some pointers, she motioned for Kellyn and her mount, Toby, to try. When Kellyn moved the dun Quarter Horse into a canter towards the log, Diva, catching Blair off guard, bounded after him. Leigha yelled for Blair to stop her mare, but Kellyn misunderstood her and pulled Toby to a halt. Unable to stop the mare, Blair and her horse collided into Toby's backend. Startled, Diva reared, the white of her eyes showing, and sent Blair falling to the ground. As soon as her forelegs were on the ground again, the bay mare took off before Leigha could grab the reins.

Seeing the horses cantering down the trail ahead of her while she'd been made to stand still had been bad enough for Glory, but seeing Diva's tail end tearing across the field sparked something in the filly. Before Eva could stop her and let Leigha and Mickey go catch the run away, Glory was tearing after the bay. Eva tried to pull her back, but the Appaloosa filly had the bit in her teeth and her mind set on catching the horse in front of her. Casting a fleeting glance behind her, Eva saw that everyone was crowded around Blair and apparently had left the catching of Diva up to her. Even if she pulled Glory up now and Dan or Leigha took off after her, chances were slim that they would catch her until she was fully exhausted. And with stamina like Diva's they wouldn't even be able to get a hand on her until dark. With a head start and the blistering speed that had made her a good racehorse, not even Mickey would be able to catch up to her.

One more time, Eva tried to pull Glory up, but all the filly did was toss her head and fight the bit, while keeping her ground eating gallop as best she could. Glory was only two and there was a possibility that she could get hurt, but it seemed like Glory was more apt to hurt herself in a battle of wills with Eva rather than chasing down Diva. Swallowing and praying that her filly wouldn't be hurt, Eva gave Glory her head and hoped for the best.

Instantly, Glory surged foreward, extending her neck and lengthening her stride. Ahead of them, Diva was settling a wild pace, the reins flapping at her neck and the stirrups slapping her sides only urging the riderless mare on. Thankfully, the ground ahead of them was flat, with only new green shoots and dieing, older yellow ones carpeting the ground. Eva could only hope that there weren't any gopher holes- Glory or even Diva falling and breaking a leg was the last thing she needed. Looking up from the ground, Eva was surprised to see that Glory was gaining on the Thoroughbred ahead of her, slowly but surely. Her breaths came in a series of snorting bursts, but the filly was in no way fatigued yet, judging by her never faltering stride.

In no time at all, Glory had her head up to Diva's flank, then her saddle. Just as her nose was edging up towards Diva's head, Eva grabbed for the reins. This sudden motion threw Glory off balance and she almost collided with the wild-eyed mare beside her, had Eva not pulled her to the right, away from Diva. Recovering her stride, Glory again powered ahead, her muscles rippling underneath her blue-black and white spotted coat. Once again, the reins were just inside Eva's reach. More carefully this time, she reached over, leaning precariously in the saddle. The smooth leather just brushed against the tips of her fingers. Below her, she could hear the thunder of the hoofbeats. If she were to fall, Dan would have to drag her to the hospital in a bloody mess. Well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd fallen off a horse, or the first time she'd gone to the hospital for it.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Eva reached out and felt her hand close around the reins. Sitting back up in the saddle and pulling back on her own set of reins, she gradually slowed both horses. Only when they reached a complete halt did she start breathing again. She sat there for a few minutes, letting the horses calm down, as well as trying to calm herself. Her heart pounded away in her chest and the sound of the horses' hooves trampling the ground still rang in her ears. She had a feeling that this was one of those things that if her mother ever found out she did, she'd be in a very bad way. Of course, she wouldn't have to worry about her mother if Dan got to her first.

After having regained her wits and given the horses a breather, Eva turned back and wondered how far they had actually gone. She could see the trail and small grove where she'd come from ahead, but it was some ways in the distance. Despite a sheen of sweat to her spotted coat, a few minor scratches on her legs from the scrub brush, and being out of breath, Glory seemed in good condition for having galloped for such a ways. Even now as they led the calming Diva, the filly had a lively bounce to her step, displaying an air of pride about her. She tossed her head, sending her black and white mane flying and flicked her tail as she pranced. She was even bold enough to try and take a bite out of Diva when it looked like the mare was about to get ahead of her. Maybe, just maybe, Glory could be a racehorse- maybe she could even rival her famous great grandsire.

As the cold water was poured over her back, Glory heaved a sigh of relief. Her run had taken some out of her, but she seemed no worse for wear. She'd pranced all the way back to the trailers, making Eva think she could go for the run all over again. Aside from nerves, Diva had fared just about as well, although she'd been jumpy all the way back. Blair hadn't suffered any injuries, albeit being shook up and a little bruised. At Dan's insisting, she climbed back up on Diva and rode her half the way back, but when Leigha volunteered to take the skittish mare, neither Dan nor Blair had had any objections. While Diva had nearly pulled Leigha's arms off, Blair obviously relaxed on Mickey. By the opinion of many, she was a competent enough rider, but maybe she wasn't ready for a horse like Diva.

Untying Glory's white cotton lead rope, Eva prepared to lead her to the trailer. Every one else was settled and it was about time she was too so they could get back to Robin Glen. Lipping at Eva's long auburn hair affectionately, Glory obligingly followed to one of the two horse trailers and all but loaded herself. While she had spunk and fire in her, undoubtedly a gift from her sire, she did possess the affectionate nature that had made her dam a well loved mount.

As she tied the filly up next to Mickey in the horse trailer Eva mused not only the similarities between Glory and her parents, but the remarkable differences too. The filly was definitely her own horse, with quirks and features that were unique to her. While her dam had been a solid black aside from her markings, Glory was steadily roaning out, getting more and more white every time she shed. Her personality was just as unique as her color, specifically her habit of seeking attention in any imaginable way and her newly acquired taste for marshmallows.

"Why don't you go ride in Leigha's truck, Kellyn? We'll put the rest of the tack in the back seat of mine and Eva and I can ride together," Eva heard Dan say as she shut the door to the trailer. The words seemed innocent enough, but there was something lingering in Dan's voice that made her inwardly cringe. He hadn't seemed to upset when she, Glory, and Diva had returned, but he hadn't looked impressed either. In fact, he really hadn't even spoken to her, aside from asking her to go help Jenny load her horse. She didn't want to believe that he was mad at her- for fear of what might happen –and was going to tell herself otherwise until Leigha walked past with an uncertain look on her face and patted her on the shoulder. As her stomach tightened, Eva wondered if she should ride in the horse trailer with Glory.

When she walked towards the truck, she saw that Dan was talking to Blair as he organized the temporary tack room in the backseat of his pickup. Swallowing hard, Eva busied herself with putting away random grooming and tack items that had been left out and checking on the horses. Dan couldn't be angry with her, could he? After all, she and Glory had caught Diva. If they hadn't, who knows what could have happened! Yes, there had been risks involved, but no one had been hurt. Even after the speed and ability she'd shown today, Eva wasn't going to gallop Glory on a daily basis, unless…

The sound of the diesel engine firing up signaled that they would be leaving soon. Throwing a curry comb back in the tack compartment, Eva carefully latched the door and let herself into the passenger side of the truck. As she fastened her seatbelt, Dan, followed by Leigha, crept out of the parking lot and followed the dusty dirt road to the highway. With the absence of the radio or any lively banter, the cab of the vehicle seemed almost hostile. Eva watched the minutes tick by on the digital clock on the dashboard, wondering how long it would be before they pulled into Robin Glen. It probably wouldn't be soon enough.

"I knew that filly was trouble from day one," Dan quietly mumbled, seemingly to himself, breaking the silence.

"I hope you're talking about Diva because Glory did nothing wrong," Eva snapped, her pent up anxiety putting an edge to her tone.

"She practically pulled your arms out of their sockets, Eva! I don't think she would've stopped running if we'd put a brick wall in front of her," Dan replied, trying not to sound too angry or too concerned at the same time. "She's not just young and green, she's wild and she could have killed you!"

"Dan, she could never hurt me- she's Glory."

"But she's not Rainy."

"I know she's not Rainy!" Eva almost yelled, flashing Dan a dark look. Of all people, her riding instructor was the one person Eva hardly expected to start a fight with. He was practically an uncle to her, having taught her to ride for eight years now, along with being one of her dad's old college buddies and good friends.

"Some times I find it hard to believe that. You put so much faith in her even before she was trained, like she was some sort of reincarnation. Even now when she runs away with you like some crazy racehorse, you still blindly believe in her!"

"She's just young! Any young horse could've done that!"

Silence fell once more. Dan, as always, immediately returned to his stoic self, like nothing had ever happened. He'd said what he felt he needed to say and now he was going to let Eva think it over. In his opinion, the filly would probably be better off with someone else who had all the time in the world to get beat up by some crazy filly.

Eva, on the other hand, was far less collected. Eyes fixedly gazing out the window at the uninteresting landscape, she didn't even try to glance over at Dan. He really did have some nerve educating her on the fact that Glory wasn't Rainy. She knew that and she had known that when she bought Glory. Or, rather, she'd come to learn that. When she first bought the filly, she had bough her for the fact that she resembled her dam. Now though, she adored Glory for being Glory, whether or not she would end up a hunter or eventer like Rainy. In fact, Eva was already thinking about an alternative career for Glory- and Dan had already labeled her for it.

"You called Glory a racehorse," Eva said, breaking the silence once more.

Briefly glancing at her, Dan answered, "I called her a crazy racehorse, not that I meant anything by it."

The dashboard clock ticked away and two more minutes before Eva spoke again. "You used to work with racehorses with my dad up in Wyoming when you guys were in college, didn't you?

"Yes." His answer was short and rough- he knew what she was getting at.

"You wouldn't happen to remember anything, would you?" Trying not to sound too hopeful, Eva gave him a sidelong glance.

"I'm not going to train Glory and that's final."

She shrugged. "Oh well," she began, nonchalantly, "I guess I'll just train her myself. How hard can running in a circle be?"

The look of pure dread on Dan's face was almost enough to make Eva laugh. "You'll really get killed then, and Terry will kill me because I got her summer help killed."

"Then you should help me train her!" Eva laughed. "That way our chances of death will be significantly lower."

Heaving a heavy sigh, Dan shook his head. "I don't think it's very fair that I can't say no to any of you girls."

"So you'll train her?"

"I'll help you train her," Dan corrected as they pulled up to Robin Glen, "but on certain conditions. One: You don't give up riding Cozzy on the equestrian team. Two: If she turns out to be no good, we don't push it any further. Three: The minute she seriously hurts anyone or anything, she's up for sale."

"Agreed!" Eva chimed, smiling as she hopped out of the truck to go get her new racehorse-in-training. Now Glory was going to be given her chance to shine.


	6. Chapter Six: Hopeful Wins & Blue Ribbons

Author's Note: Not a lot of emphasis on Glory in this chapter, but it's something different at least. I promise a more Glory/horse racing/misadventure packed chapter next time.

Eva yawned, rubbing her sleepy blue eyes as she glanced up at the kitchen clock. It was already half past midnight? She really hadn't intended staying up this late studying. In all truth though, she was only half heartedly studying. She suspected that her final in equine sciences tomorrow would go well enough and that was the last written final she had to do. Competing and judging in a show this weekend was her last final and she had a good amount of faith in herself, Cozzy and Shasta, the dark buckskin Quarter Horse mare she was borrowing from the school this year for western events. Her instructor, Joan, who also coached the equestrian team, demanded that all of her riders, especially those who were also on the team, be proficient in all forms of riding. As a result, Eva got to brush up on her dressage and dig out her old western tack that had been stowed away in the attic for several years.

But she wasn't really worried about her equine science final or her show this weekend. All of her concentration was mainly focused on three pieces of paper: a letter she'd got from Dan, this year's ApHC racing schedule and a copy of _The Daily Racing Form_. Dan's letter was short and to the point. It was hardly even a paragraph long, but a paragraph was all that Eva needed to know that Glory's training was going smoothly. She hadn't really been too keen on leaving Glory at Robin Glen for a month, but it was probably doing the filly more good than keeping her in the paddock at the school's stable while Eva sorted through the chaos that undoubtedly ensued at the end of the academic year. As he'd promised, Dan had been exercising her almost every day. Surprisingly, he was even riding her out in the paddocks, although it sounded like he did a little more arena work with her and dared to pony her alongside Allegra. He'd said that her manners were "not appalling, but not too spectacular either" and that he could definitely see the Thoroughbred and Black blood in her.

While he'd cautioned her that it could take anywhere from a month to the rest of the year to train her, Eva was already looking for races to enter the filly in. She knew they had no chance of entering any May races, but maybe they would have a shot at some July races at the earliest, if Glory proved to be going well. They could always aim towards the fall races, although Eva would prefer to race her as soon as she was ready. Regardless of when they started, the filly would have a late start, but Eva wanted her to get some experience before she was a three year old. Three year old races were where the good horses were separated from the great ones. Glory would definitely be a part of the latter category, or so she hoped.

_The Daily Racing Form_ was the one thing she could never get tired of looking at though. It wasn't the front page, decorated with the latest Derby winner's pictures, that she was looking at. The article she kept going back to was on the third or so page. With all the talk of the Derby and the Triple Crown, Eva was surprised that this story had made it on the third page, regardless of the fact that somewhere it had mentioned that this two year old might be next year's Triple Crown hopeful. Although the picture was black and white, the featured horse's blood bay color and fiery eyes seemed to light up the page. The headline was no less magnificent: UNDEFEATED TWO YEAR OLD BRINGS HOPE BACK TO HOPEFUL. Just seeing the headline was what had intrigued Eva, but reading on left her heart fluttering. Printed in a bold black font, the article read:

Since the heartbreak of Clearly Dark's nearly fatal injury more than a decade ago, Hopeful Farm has seen no real prospects emerge from their farm. Every farm is entitled to a dry spell, but it seemed like Hopeful would never get its groove back after such bad luck, starting with the afore mentioned injury. But Cartouche, a blood bay colt owned and trained by co-owner Griffen Ramsay, seems destined to join the ranks of the Black, Satan, Black Minx and Clearly Dark- after all, three of them are right on his papers.

This fiery young horse traces back to the farm's foundation stallion on both sides, with Satan on the top and Black Minx on the bottom. Other names, such as Our Emblem, sire of Derby winner War Emblem, and Thunder Gulch, can be spotted throughout his pedigree. And with all these famed Derby winners, War Emblem, Thunder Gulch and Black Minx among others, he's related to, who's to say he couldn't be a Kentucky Derby, or even Triple Crown, winner himself?

Cartouche, out of the Kentucky Oaks winning mare Status Symbol, who is by Our Emblem, certainly can lay claim to a position in the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May next year. In his four starts since early March at Hialeah Park, this spunky colt has gone undefeated, even in the presence of other noteworthy colts, such as Cantbridlethis, a gray son of Unbridled's Song, Drop That Jazz, the formerly undefeated son of Lemon Drop Kid, and Perseus, a winning colt of more modest, European based breeding.

Cartouche's most fascinating race to date was his performance in the Three Chimneys Juvenile at Churchill Downs earlier this month. After a clean break from the gate, Cartouche, ridden by Jack Rice, surged forward to take the lead, but after getting caught in the pack in fifth place, Mossy Ridge took first, with Rackmore Colony and Perseus following in second. It looked like he'd be stuck forever, until Rice discovered a hole as they reached the half way point in this five and a half furlong race. The New York bred colt roared to the front of the pack and challenged the current leaders Drop That Jazz and Rackmore Colony for the lead. With the wire in sight, Cartouche powered ahead, with Drop That Jazz and Perseus making their final bids to win. They were no match for the blood bay colt and Cartouche crossed the wire three lengths in front of Perseus. Won't Be Good closely followed for third, with Drop That Jazz a nose behind him.

"'Who's to say he couldn't be a Kentucky Derby, or even Triple Crown, winner himself?'" Eva repeated to herself, musing over the thought of actually having been personally introduced to a Triple Crown winner. Of course, they did have a while yet before there could be any promises. Cartouche was a stellar colt, but anything could happen. There might even be a repeat of Dark's accident, or worse.

Via the occasional mail correspondence, Eva occasionally heard from Alec or Griffen about their horses and sent the occasional tidbit on Glory. After hearing that she was being trained for the track, both wished her the best of luck. But Griffen had hardly mentioned anything about Cartouche's success. Actually, this article was the first thing she'd heard about him winning anything other than his maiden at Hialeah. All Griffen had been inclined to tell her was that he was doing very well and that he looked to be just as fast as his ancestors. That hadn't been much to go on.

But she wasn't solely interested in Cartouche's success just because she happened to know him or his owners. As of late, she'd been looking at his and other Hopeful Farm's foals' successes to try and gauge Glory's future success. While none of Clearly Dark's other foals from Blue Mesa had been geared towards or even thought of as racers, his other foals that had made it to the track were doing quite well for themselves. Clearly A Rocky, the gray gelding she'd met at Hopeful the year before, was currently one of his best two year olds. He'd never been pitted against Cartouche being a turf horse, but regardless he'd racked up a few wins to his name. Clearly Dark's other foals had been noted for being versatile on the dirt or on the turf, and on and off the track. Reportedly, two had been bought at the yearling sale this year and were going to be tried as steeplechasers.

So, with this information, Eva had used it to decide on a few races that they could possibly enter Glory. Arapahoe Downs, up in Aurora which was just outside of Denver, was the closest place to race Glory without going out of state. Their season didn't start until June, which wouldn't be a problem for them. There were usually a few maidens every week, or at least every other week, all throughout the season. They just had to find out what distance and surface Glory liked best.

Looking up at the clock again, Eva cringed when she saw that it was ten past one in the morning. Separating her school work from her horse papers, Eva stood up and stretched. Thankfully her classes didn't start till nearly noon so she could actually sleep, but she crept up the stairs quietly. The small, old house she and Leigha rented was prone to creaking and moaning. This was especially bad when Leigha had classes early the next morning and Eva ended up getting a shoe thrown at her head.

Opening her water bottle, Eva took a long drink as the next class began. Looking down at her schedule, she noticed that it was an English equitation class, which would be easy to judge compared to the hunter hack class that had just exited the arena. Joan, her instructor, hovered over the three student's shoulders, making sure they were paying close attention. While she was older than Dan judging by her silver hair, Joan McCall was still game. She didn't really have as tough an exterior as Eva's old riding instructor, but when it came to finals, she was as strict as any.

"Come on, don't fall asleep," Joan cautioned. "Watch for the lead change in the figure eight."

Looking up from her scorecard, Eva watched as the rider, mounted on a handsome bay, moved at a sitting trot around the arena, before signaling her horse to canter. The figure eight came easily enough to the pair and the lead change, while a little unpolished, was good enough. They were the first pair in a class of eighteen, which was eighteen too many to judge for Eva. She and Cozzy still had their final class, a jumpers class, to do. They'd done well enough already, getting fourth in hunter under saddle because the old gray felt suddenly spunky and saw fit to gallop when he was asked to canter. He hadn't done extraordinarily well in their training level dressage class, ending up in ninth place, but the Trakehner cross had always been more of a jumper than anything. His working hunter class had gone much better and they'd ended up tying for second after he'd bumped the rail on a jump. Eva would've liked to enter him in more hunter classes, but Joan wanted them to branch out and try more disciplines on the flat and to give just plain jumping, with no hunters attached, a try.

Her western classes with Shasta earlier that day had gone well enough. They'd received a fifth in trail, a sixth in a novice reining class, and fourth in barrel racing. For not having ridden western since before she had received Rainy and only starting up again this school year, Eva was quite proud of herself. She wasn't about to take up western riding professionally though. Hunters and jumping were her favorite disciplines by far, but riding western could be a nice break once and a while.

As she and the other two student judges made their final decisions, Eva glanced down at her watch. She had forty-five minutes until her class. That meant forty-five minutes to change into her riding shirt and jacket, brush off her boots, tack up Cozzy, warm up and walk the course. Just the thought of all she had to do made her nerves sizzle. It didn't help that she'd be the third rider up. Along with having less time to get ready, she'd only get to watch two riders before her navigate the course and see which jumps were troublesome and which turns were tight. If things didn't hurry up, she might not get to walk the course as thoroughly as she wanted.

"Why don't you get going, Eva? You're class is coming up," Joan whispered as she leaned over her student's shoulder.

"But don't we still have to compare scores and reasons?"

"Nah," Joan said, waving her arm as to banish the idea. "You three pretty much figured the same thing, but I'll take your card and make sure your say gets its way in. I'd rather you actually compete than spend all day up here, especially since you've already judged your three classes."

Thanking her instructor profusely, Eva dashed out of the judges' box and towards the truck and trailer she and Leigha had brought to the show. Mickey was already tacked up and waiting to go, while her gray gelding was still lazily munching on the hay net tied to the side of the trailer. While they had been in the dressage and hunter under saddle classes together, the upcoming jumping class was the only class where Eva and Leigha would really be given the chance to challenge each other. Cozzy being a picturesque hunter horse had out placed Mickey easily in hunter under saddle, despite his misbehaving. Having had more experience in dressage through eventing, Mickey had easily beat him, ending up in third place. Even though Mickey had the speed to shave off a few seconds, Cozzy was more fluid than the Thoroughbred cross mare. It was anybody's guess which one of them would out place the other and none of their friends were picking sides.

Grabbing her jacket and shirt out of the truck, Eva went to the bathroom situated in the main office of the show grounds to change. She wasn't really worried about damaging her friendship with Leigha by the outcome of the jumping class. They'd been pitted against each other before when she'd done eventing with Rainy and jumping with Cozzy. It was more of a friendly rivalry than anything. A blue ribbon wasn't anything to separate best friends. Eva was actually more worried about actually riding than anything- Joan would kill her if she was late!

After she'd changed and dusted her boots off with the shirt she'd been wearing before, Eva hurried back to the horse trailer. Leigha was making last minute fixes to the braids in Mickey's mane and waved to Eva as she jogged up.

"I got your tack out for you, Ev," Leigha said, pointing to Eva's ebony Stübben Edelweiss NT, the saddle Eva had drooled over for months before summing up the money, and courage, to buy it, which was sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Cozzy's matching bridle and boots were sitting next to it.

"Thanks Lei, you're a life saver," Eva exclaimed gratefully, as she grabbed the tack.

"Only doing what I can to keep you in the class. We need some competition! Mickey will loose her touch if Joan forces us to do any more boring hunter and on the flat classes!"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with hunters!" Eva defended good naturedly as she ran a brush over Cozzy.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you're one of _them_," Leigha joked, making it sound as if Eva was now an insane cultist.

Eva rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Leigha as her friend mounted her chestnut mare and rode towards the warm up arena. Quickly, she ran the curry comb over Cozzy's dappled coat, then followed through with the soft body brush, which brought out the silver in his gray color. Going as fast as she could, she picked out his hooves, surprised at how much dirt had gotten packed in there since morning, and sponged off his eyes and nostrils. When she finally looked at her watch, she cringed. She had twenty-five minutes to walk the course and warm up Cozzy.

"Need some help?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Eva turned around and practically yelled, "Dan!"

"The one and only," he chuckled and patted Cozzy's muscular neck.

"When did you get here? Leigha didn't say anything to me."

"I just pulled up," he explained. "Just saw Mickey and Leigha in the warm up ring too- they look really nice. Prepared too."

Eva's cheeks momentarily flashed pink. "Well, you can't really blame me, I just got done judging a class and I had to get myself and Cozzy ready and he's still not even tacked up!"

"I don't dare hope you've walked the course?"

"I haven't even had time to think about walking it."

Mumbling something about procrastinating college students, Dan pushed her in the direction of the arena where the class was to be held. "Go on, go look at the jumps. I'll tack up Coz and start warming him up for you."

"What would I do without you, Dan?" Eva asked as she grabbed her riding helmet. Dan shook his head as he grabbed Eva's saddle and threw it on Cozzy's dappled back. Laughing, Eva promised she'd be back in a few before jogging towards the southeast arena, where the course for her class would be posted.

Taking a deep breath, Eva watched with white knuckles as the last competitor of the initial round made it through the course. So far she and five other riders, including Leigha, had made it to the jump off with clear rounds. Now though, it looked like she would be riding against six other people as the last rider trotted out of the arena.

Nerves were just an inevitable variable in a showing situation, for Eva at least, especially now that this was counted as a final grade. Joan had said that it didn't matter what place they got, as long as they competed, but doing horribly in all her classes certainly wouldn't look good. She hadn't done too badly so far, but she could definitely say that she and Cozzy had had better days. Then again, the gray gelding's forte was hunter/jumpers and now he was competing in several classes they hadn't done in years. He'd done very well in his working hunter class, but only achieved second by a bad stroke of luck. Despite that little voice in her head telling her that it didn't matter, Eva thought it would be nice to bring home a blue ribbon.

"Jump-off for the intermediate-advanced jumping class will begin in ten minutes," the announcer called over the PA system.

"Ten minutes? That's an eternity!" Eva moaned as she leaned against Cozzy's shoulder.

Despite his rider's obvious anxiety, Cozzy remained cool and collected. He seemed more intent on watching the other horses pass by, flicking his fox-like ears back and forth, occasionally whickering a hello. Nothing really ever got to old Cozzy, even plastic bags flying in the breeze or wild, horse eating tigers- also known as that invisible monster just over the horizon that horses are bound to spook at. Mickey was well known for being especially wary of the latter.

"You look tense," Leigha said through a mouthful of ice cream.

Eva turned around to see Leigha, who was the emotional opposite of her best friend at the moment. Her blonde curls fell haphazardly out of her hair net and a ring of vanilla ice cream circled her mouth, obviously from the cone held in her left hand. Just as calm as her rider and very curious about the ice cream she held, Mickey stood still while Leigha held the end of her reins in her left hand.

"You're eating before jump off?" Eva asked incredulously.

"Sure! This stuff is great! You want a bite?" she offered, holding the cone out to Eva.

Looking down at the melting, sticky vanilla mess, Eva almost turned green. "Ugh, no thanks," she groaned, holding her stomach.

Leigha shrugged. "Fine, more for me and Mickey," she replied, holding the ice cream out to her mare. Ears pricking excitedly, Mickey lipped up some ice cream, making a funny face as she moved the cold mush around in her mouth.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Eva questioned, looking at the chestnut mare skeptically.

"Five years and she hasn't dropped dead yet!" Leigha smiled, popping the rest of the cone into her mouth and patting her mare affectionately on the neck.

The announcer called all the riders in their class to the arena and listed their names in order of when they'd be riding. Luckily for Eva and Leigha, they rode towards the end. In fact, Eva would be the last rider to ride, Leigha only going two ahead of her. Well, Eva only considered it half lucky. The waiting would be murder.

Soon enough though, Leigha was up. The jump off course was similar to the intermediate-advanced course they had jumped earlier, albeit minus two fences and a few tighter turns, but Leigha didn't seem worried in the least. Currently, only one other rider, a junior at their school riding a bay tobiano American Warmblood mare, had gone clear. But Leigha just oozed her buoyant confidence and seemed convinced that she could do better. If she didn't, she wouldn't be too disappointed. The remarkable thing about Leigha was that she was the model gracious loser.

As they approached the first jump, Eva watched in fascination. Leigha looked the picture of concentration as she rode and those big, famous show jumpers had nothing on Mickey- the gleaming red mare's lively, long strides could put them all to shame. Mickey didn't just jump the first jump, she sprung over it like a deer. Eva could very easily see how she'd make a good eventer. She did the same for all the jumps after that, annihilating each one. As she was cantering across the arena to the fifth jump though, the mare bucked, almost kicking one of the other fences. Figuring that she was just getting excited, Eva watched Leigha urge her back on course.

With the fifth jump right in front of them, Mickey slowed down a little, but Leigha clucked to her and the mare resumed her speedy canter. But the momentary speed change had thrown off Leigha's stride count and they took off too early. Mickey's hind legs bumped one of the red striped poles, but it remained in place. The next jump was the second to last. They were making good time so far, so if they didn't get any penalties, they might just win it.

They approached the sixth jump perfectly, but at the last minute Mickey threw up her head and skidded to a stop. Leigha, unprepared for the sudden stop, was thrown up on the mare's neck. Instantly, Eva's brow furrowed. Mickey hardly ever refused a jump. In fact, she was rather well known for running right through them instead of refusing. Sitting back in the saddle, Leigha turned Mickey around to try the approach again. Although they approached well this time, the Belgian-Thoroughbred mare didn't get enough height and knocked a rail. As she landed, her feet got caught up in the falling rail and she tripped. It didn't bring her to her knees or unseat Leigha, but it upset her enough to make her refuse the next jump, thus eliminating them from the class.

Cozzy in tow, Eva rushed to the gate to meet Leigha and Mickey as they exited. Instead of looking excited and jumpy, as Eva would've suspected, Mickey's striped head was slung low and she looked rather miserable. Jumping off of her horse's back, Leigha immediately began to check Mickey.

"Her legs look fine, I don't think she pulled a muscle. She's not even all that sweaty. Do you think it was the ice cream?" Leigha asked worriedly.

"Ice cream?" exclaimed Dan as he jogged up to them. "Don't tell me you gave her ice cream!"

"Well it's never hurt her before…"

"She's a horse, Leigha! She's meant to eat hay!" Sighing, Dan slung the flaxen chestnut's reins over her head and handed them to Leigha. "Here, let's go find a vet. There has to be one on the show grounds some where."

"Let me go tie Cozzy up at the trailer and I'll come with you-" Eva started.

"No," Dan said firmly. "You're up shortly and I don't want you to miss your ride. I don't think it's anything serious, just a stomach ache probably or a brain freeze if this crazy mare even has a brain."

"But-!"

"Really, Ev, don't sweat it. We'll let you know if something is really wrong," Leigha consoled as she led Mickey away.

"Well, looks like it's just you and me, bud," Eva sighed as she mounted the gelding. Stoic as ever though, he didn't seem to mind.

"Rider number seven, Eva Kavanaugh on Cause For Surprise," came the muffled announcer's voice through the arena speakers.

Almost as if he'd understood his name, Cozzy sprung into a sweeping, graceful trot as soon as the announcer finished. With the first jump in sight, he quickly shifted paces to his rocking horse canter. Effortlessly, he bounced over the first fence, an oxer, and continued towards the second. Again he cleared it gracefully and repeated the same thing over and over again, regardless of whether it was a wall, gate, vertical or oxer. The water jump was next. Cozzy never liked water jumps. He didn't even like water in the first place! When he caught sight of it, Eva could feel him tense, but kept him going.

Fortunately, he'd cleared it. They'd ticked one of the poles, but it had bounced right back into the cup. Talk about a lucky break! Quickly Cozzy recovered his composure and Eva pointed him towards the next jump. If they made a clear round, Eva figured, they could end up with a good placing. Seeing as Cozzy was a hunter horse and not geared towards speed so much, they might not get first when matched up to other horses with more experience in show jumping, but Eva would settle for anything.

Popping over the last jump, Eva couldn't help but smile at the applause they received. It wasn't a very large or prestigious crowd, this being just a school show, but it still felt good to be recognized for a good round. Walking out of the arena on a loose rein, Eva spotted Dan and pointed Cozzy towards him.

"How's Mick?"

"Eh, fine," He said casually. "Vet just said she has a stomach ache, or possibly an infection of Leigha cooties. Whatever it is, she'll be fine and I don't think Leigha will share her ice cream again."

"Not with Mickey at least. I'll still get a cone shoved in my face," she laughed.

"You'd think-" Dan started, but was interrupted by the announcer.

"First place, Eva Kavanaugh on Cause for Surprise. Second place Matthew McLaughlin on Bells Ringing. Third…"

"You were saying?" Eva asked as she dismounted.

"You won!"

"What?"

"Get back on the horse!" Dan said, pushing her back towards Cozzy.

"What?"

Dan shook his head. "You won. You must now go get your ribbon. Do you understand?" he said slowly, almost as if she hardly understood English.

"I did?"

He rolled his eyes.


	7. Chapter Seven: Getting Serious

Author's Note: Wow, it's been a while! Here's a little something, if I happen to have any form of loyal readership left. Hopefully I can get this going again. Enjoy!

Dawn just barely hung over the horizon as Eva walked out the door, still struggling to lace up her paddock boots as she made her way towards the her parent's small barn. Usually, this was Jake's job but he'd managed to qualify for some big Quarter Horse show on his boss's horses. Eva was proud that her big brother was making headway into the horse industry, but she decided he could keep his morning chores as she fought a yawn.

Throwing a bale of hay into a wheelbarrow, Eva made her way down the small, four-stall barn. Both Jetty and Darling poked their heads out of their stalls and whickered hungrily. The two aged broodmares were all that was left of her parent's breeding operation and were quite spoiled because of it. Jetty, being the obstinate old mare she was, impatiently ripped a mouthful of hay from the wheelbarrow.

"Hold up, you old bat," Eva affectionately teased as she pet the mare's soft dark sorrel nose. Jetty would be sixteen this year, but didn't show it at all. Her coat gleamed and she was in impeccable condition. Martha Kavanaugh didn't let her mares become full time pasture potatoes just because they popped out a foal every once and a while. Oh no, both Jetty and Darling went for trail rides and did the occasional gymkhana when they weren't in foal. In fact, neither had been bred for a couple years. The last foal on the property had been Darling's colt, who was just as palomino and sweet natured as she was, and he'd been sold gelded as a yearling to Jake's boss, who wanted a speed prospect for his daughter.

After tossing the rest of the hay to the mares, portioning out their grain, and checking their water, Eva made one last round before the left the barn. It definitely felt weird, what with Jake and his mare, Molly, leaving right as she came back from school for the summer. Even their small barn felt a little empty.

Fishing her keys out of her pocket, Eva unlocked her truck and coaxed the old tin can to life in the cold morning air. Eva yawned as she pulled out of the driveway and headed towards Robin Glen. She and Leigha had gotten back late last night and she'd practically collapsed as soon as she got home. It'd been near midnight by the time she'd gotten Cozzy unloaded and said goodnight to both him and Glory, who she felt like she hadn't seen in ages.

It seemed like school had put a damper on her plans for Glory. She wanted so badly to be there for her training. Dan said that she was making progress on the basics, but there wasn't much more he could do without a racing outfit of his own. And plus, working with Glory between giving lessons, training horses and shows every other weekend now that the season had started? Eva was convinced that the man was a saint. Or maybe a lunatic. She really did appreciate his help though. Glory was probably the last horse he wanted to spend his free time with.

By the time Eva pulled into the drive at Robin Glen, the stable had already come to life. Terry was in the outdoor arena, working with her new reining prospect and Russ was hauling a wheelbarrow to the manure pile. Here and there she spotted the barn help, horse crazy teenage girls, walking horses in from the pasture and carrying buckets from the barn to the indoor. Eva remembered being one of them- doing every chore imaginable around the barn in order to scrounge up money for lessons or entry fees for shows.

Hopping out of her truck, Eva made her way to the barn, third to last stall on the left. Peeking inside, she saw that Cozzy was making headway into his breakfast. She figured she'd let him have the day off- they'd been working hard on the school's equestrian team. While Joan made her try different disciplines in class, she consented that Eva's heart was firmly rooted in her hunter and jumper classes. The two were always getting top ribbons at shows on the school's open team, so Joan had nothing to complain about. Leigha and Mickey did well too, but Eva's best friend constantly lamented the lack of any "serious" jumps. Of course, serious for Leigha meant jumping over a four foot pile of logs into a lake. Sometimes though, as much as she'd complain, Eva saw Leigha smile after a particularly challenging jumper course.

Once she was certain that Cozzy was settled, Eva checked the next stall over. She'd seen Glory briefly the night before and the sleepy filly woke up for a minute to say hello before retreating to the back corner of her stall to sleep. But when Eva looked into the stall, she found it empty.

"That's odd…" she said aloud to herself. Usually Russ and Terry let Eva turn her own horses out after breakfast. Marching down the aisle, Eva headed towards the paddocks, figuring she'd look there first. Surely enough, Glory was in the second paddock, cantering laps all by herself, tail held high in the air. And as Eva approached the fenceline she noticed someone else.

"Hey Blair," she greeted, taking a spot on the fence line with the girl.

Startled, Blair looked up, jumping back a ways from her restful spot half perched on the fence. "Oh… hi Eva. I didn't know you were back yet, if I'd known, I wouldn't have…"

Eva shrugged. "It's fine. Have you been helping Dan turn out horses and stuff? That's what I figured." Blair nodded.

"Where's Diva? I didn't see her in her stall," Eva asked as she watched Glory settled into a brisk trot. She was certainly feeling her oats this morning.

"My dad sold her. He said she was too much horse for me," Blair quietly replied, digging her toe into the grass.

"Oh, that sucks. Are you still riding?" Eva was surprised to hear the news. Granted, she knew that Diva was a handful, but she didn't think that Blair's father would sell her so soon.

Again, Blair nodded. "Dan has me riding a couple different horses, but I don't know who I'm going to ride in the show next month…"

Blair sort of trailed off, still digging the toe of her boot into the grass. Eva figured it was probably a tough subject for the fourteen year old. She could remember being in her position- when she lost Rainy, everything turned upside down. Not only did she miss her old mare's companionship, but having to bum rides off of everyone else's horses wasn't much fun. You always felt like a burden.

"How's our favorite hellion today?" Dan asked, bright and chipper, as he walked up to the girls. True to form, he had a cup of coffee in one hand and some piece of tack in the other.

"She's ready to run," Blair said. "She chowed down on breakfast and almost ran me over when I went to get her out of her stall."

By now, Glory had almost tired herself out and trotted over to her audience. Immediately, she thrust her head into Blair, her soft lips searching her pockets for treats. For the first time this morning, Eva saw Blair smile and laugh, pushing the filly's head away and fishing out a piece of a horse cookie for her.

"I see how it is," Eva teased, reaching over to tussle the filly's forelock. "I'm gone for two months and I'm already replaced. Some horse you are, Glory."

Glory tossed her head, almost daring Eva to mess with her luxurious locks again. Though despite her mock offense, the filly gladly leaned into Eva as she scratched her neck. Behind them, Dan laughed, "What a little brat."

"How is her training going?" Eva asked, continuing to scratch the eager filly.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," he replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

Eva's stomach fell. Did Dan have bad news? Was Glory not cut out to race? Eva hadn't seen Glory run for herself, but she knew that she would make a great racehorse. And she was preparing to fight Dan on it.

"Don't look so worried, she's actually doing decently," Dan consoled. "But-"

"Oh there's always a "but" isn't there?" Eva moaned.

"Well, if you'll let me talk, worry wart," Dan retorted. "But, I think I've reached a plateau with her. I've done plenty of strength and stamina training here- as well as knocking some manners into her –but I've only been able to get her on a real track a handful of times. And you know with my schedule, I was lucky to get that at all. Blair's been a really big help with that, getting her tacked up and lounged and everything. But if you want to get serious about this, we're going to have to take the next step."

"And what is that?"

"Well, I have one of my old trainer buddies who has a nice ranch about an hour and a half north of here. He has his own practice track and a real racing outfit and everything. He mainly deals with Quarters and Paints, but he said he'd be willing to take on Glory's training too. He thinks she's pretty nice for 'one of them Appy ponies.'"

As if on command, Glory gave a snort and Eva felt her frustration. It seemed like that's all anyone ever thought of Glory- as "one of them Appy ponies." Eva knew her filly had potential, why couldn't anyone else see it? It seemed like no one could get far enough past her spots to see the horse inside.

"I don't know… do you really think he's that good? Do you think he'll treat Glory right?" Eva asked, unsure about this new trainer.

"I've known the guy for years- your dad and I met him at the track when we were exercising and helping train racing Quarter Horses in Wyoming. He's probably one of the best in the state, he's got stakes winners out the wazoo."

Looking over at Glory, Eva realized that Dan was right. There was only so much they could accomplish at Robin Glen. After all, Dan did hunters and jumpers and Terry only knew about reining and working cow horses. They would have to take a leap of faith if they wanted to get anywhere with their dream.

It had rained the night before and mist hung in the pre-dawn air. The sun probably wouldn't even begin to rise for another couple hours, but Eva was up at this ungodly hour, unloading Glory while Dan went to go find Scott. Eva had to admit that Dan was right- Scott's stable was an authentic racing outfit. From the picturesque winding drive, situated between two manicured lawns, Eva could see three barns, painted a crisp white with vivid red trim, white fenced paddocks and a half mile dirt racing oval illuminated by a halo of stadium lights. Even Glory seemed in awe of the place as she stood perfectly still with her head raised, tail flagged and nostrils wide, sucking in all the new and enticing scents.

"Exciting, isn't it Glory?" Eva asked the filly as she tied her to the side of the trailer and stripped off her blue shipping blanket. A soft snort was Glory's only reply as she curiously looked around the stable yard. Smiling, Eva stroked the filly's roaning neck as she began to tack her up. And just as Eva finished fastening Glory's bridle, she heard Dan come up behind her.

"Hey, Eva, I want you to meet Scott," Dan introduced.

Scott was about Dan's age, though he was a hair or so taller and broader, though he still looked moderately athletic from years of dealing with high strung racehorses. Eva thought he looked nice enough, but she couldn't help but feel defensive when she saw him give Glory an appraising look.

"Morning," Scott greeted, holding out his head.

Eva managed a smile and took his hand. "It's nice to meet you finally."

"You too. I think you have a pretty nice filly on your hands, maybe I could do something with her if we got her into regular training," Scott said, continuing to look over the filly. "Let's go see what she can do."

With that, the group headed towards the track, Eva leading Glory. The ground was still soft and Eva wondered what the track would be like. Glory, however, was thoroughly enjoying herself as she dashed through mud puddles, ruining her spotless spotted coat. Scott's farm, Circle Six Ranch, was alive with activity and looked like it was used to all the commotion. Horses were led back and forth from barns and paddocks and the track and various people intercepted Scott on their way to the training track. Eva could feel Glory tense. Though Dan said he'd brought her here before, Glory still wasn't used to all the commotion. Or maybe she was just ready to run.

As Scott turned to talk to an exercise rider leading a sorrel over Paint colt, Dan turned to Eva. "Nervous?" he asked.

"A little," Eva responded.

"Don't be," he comforted, patting her on the shoulder. "This is what you wanted, right? Just do it. You know Glory and you know you. Just show off Glory to Scott. If he likes her, he'll take her on for training and if not… well, Robin Glen will have its favorite troublemaker all summer."

"Need a leg up?" Scott asked as he finished up with the Paint colt.

"No, I'm good," Eva replied, sticking her foot into the stirrup of her old Stubben.

We must look pretty out of place, Eva thought as she walked Glory out onto the track, keeping to the outside rail. An Appaloosa filly with a tall, gangly rider galloping on a race track in English tack? They didn't exactly fit in amongst the other horses and riders, who looked right at home. Taking a deep breath, Eva reassured herself that this was where Glory belonged.

Just as Eva cued Glory to pick up the trot, she filly squealed and skittered to the right, throwing Eva off balance. Steadying herself on Glory's neck, Eva looked behind her to see what had spooked the filly. The overo colt she'd seen earlier was giving his rider a hard time and he'd bumped into Glory.

"Watch where you're going!" the colt's rider yelled as he passed Eva and Glory, cantering towards the inside of the track.

"Good morning to you too," Eva grumbled, again asking Glory to trot.

Glory seemed on edge after their encounter. She was obedient, but Eva noticed that she felt tense and a little worried. Eva couldn't really blame her though. Glory was in a brand new environment and she didn't exactly have the best welcoming committee. The filly felt a little more relaxed at the canter, but there was still something there.

As she neared Scott and Dan's position on the outside rail, Scott motioned for her to come in. Slowing Glory, she steered her towards the two trainers. Of course, Glory wasn't too keen on slowing, a jiggy trot and abrupt stop being the best Eva could get out of her. What was her problem?

"Whenever you're ready," Scott started. "Go ahead and let me see what you got. She looks to be in pretty good shape, but only take her about 300 yards, if that."

Nodding, Eva pushed Glory back into motion. Glory was more than happy to be moving again, as she pulled at the bit and Eva needed a tight rein to keep her back. After cantering for a while, Eva decided to let the filly go at the turn before the straightaway so Scott could get a good look at her. But despite her anxious behavior, Glory was sluggish. Eva felt that she just wasn't putting her heart into it. It felt nothing like that run across the field when they pursued Diva. Glory was just moving for the sake of moving. Despite encouragement from Eva, Glory kept her steady, if unimpressive pace.

But as they rounded the corner, the filly's black ears flicked forward. As they entered the top of the straightaway, Glory began to pick up the pace. Ahead of them was the same sorrel overo colt that'd bumped into them earlier. With competition ahead of her, Glory switched gears. Eva felt the powerful horse beneath her gain momentum with every stride, the thunder of her hooves pounding in Eva's head. The colt was getting closer with every stride and Glory wasn't about to give up. And in no time at all, Eva and Glory surged past the colt and his rider, with energy to spare.

When Eva was sure they that were sufficiently ahead of them, she slowed Glory, first to a canter and then a trot. The filly's attitude was quite changed- she seemed more confident and a little full of herself. She even gave a playful half buck to show it. When they reached Scott and Dan again, Eva slowed and stopped the filly, parking her right next to them.

"That was pretty good. Much more than I expected," Scott said, nodding his head as he gave Glory another appraising look. This time Eva didn't mind him looking her over.

"And there's more where that came from, I promise you," Eva replied, patting the filly's slightly damp and mud speckled neck.

"So you want to be a real race horse, girl?" Scott asked Glory, reaching his hand out to pat her nose. Glory accepted the attention, if with a little bit of a snobby attitude. "You'll have to be serious about this, Eva. It'll take a lot, probably more than you'd expect."

"Oh trust me, she's ready," Dan assured him.

"Well, first thing in order is some proper tack. A close contact may work well for hunters, but it's too big and too heavy for racing. You'll have to invest in some new racing tack. I might have an old saddle I can sell you. It's not much, but it'll get you started.

"And you'll need to put her in full time training with me. Which would also mean boarding her here, unless you want to trailer her out here every morning. I can cut you a deal since your dad and Dan are friends of mine, but it'll still run you about 500 a month. The earliest I'd race her would be in July at Arapahoe in the Paint and Appaloosa maiden and you'll have to pay all the fees for that. It won't be cheap."

Taking a deep breath, Eva nodded. She knew it wasn't going to be easy, but reality, especially the financial reality, was a little hard to take. But as she sat atop Glory, who looked infinitely full of herself, despite being covered with mud and the obvious odd one out, she decided that she owed it to her filly. This was their chance to shine and to prove to everyone that they had what it took to make it at the track.


	8. Chapter 8: Priorities

With a cheery ring, the cash register sprung open, the drawer hitting Eva in the stomach. But that's probably what she got for day dreaming, or worrying her head off, whatever you wanted to call it. As she counted the customer's change, Eva continued to wonder how she was about to afford all of this. Her job at the stable didn't quite cut it. While she got a decent break on her board and made just enough money for everything else her parents didn't help out with, Eva had to find a way to make up for the expenses she'd incurred with Glory's race training. And she wasn't about to ask her parents for more money. They already helped her with board, vet and farrier for Cozzy and Glory at Robin Glen. She'd feel awful asking them for help with Glory's training.

Which was what had brought her to Tony's Grocery on the corner of Main and Buckhorn. She worked at Robin Glen in the mornings, helping feed, turn out and take care of horses, helping Dan teach lessons and working with horses in training. Then somewhere between one and two in the afternoon, she made the trek back home to wrangle up some food and change into some clean clothes and her burgundy apron for her job as a cashier at Tony's. On the rare days she wasn't working in the afternoons and had a decent amount of fuel in her truck to spare, she'd drive the hour and a half trip to Circle Six Ranch to check up on Glory.

"Here's your change, ma'm. Have a nice day," Eva said, depositing the neat stack of bills and coins into the lady's hand.

Taking a deep breath, Eva leaned back against her register. She was exhausted, but she knew it was worth it. She'd been up to see Glory last weekend and she looked fabulous. She was truly growing into a beautiful horse. Eva thought she'd end up around 15.2 hands, what with inheriting her dam's short, compact legs, but Glory surprised her and was now closing in on 16.2 hands, with a little more room to grow. She still had the same wonderful bone and substance of her dam, but she was beginning to look like a sleek, leggy Thoroughbred. Albeit the spots.

Scott said she was performing well, but she could definitely be a handful and that she put even some of his most unruly colts- like Tex, the colt they'd lapped that first day -to shame. The biggest problem he said he had with her was her Indian Shuffle. While Eva didn't mind the comfortable gait, Scott was intensely frustrated by it. He wanted four speeds from her- walk, trot, canter, gallop. Glory had a habit of confusing his riders with her lateral gait until Eva informed him that she could indeed trot- you just had to tap her sides three times and she would move into the trot. Glory was a lot smarter than Scott gave her credit for sometimes.

Glancing over at the clock, Eva noticed that it was already 7:45. Thank goodness, she thought. The store would close in less than an hour and all she had to do was close her register and sweep up the front of the store. Business was already slowing down, so she figured that she could start on that now and clock out around 9:00. This Friday evening was still young for most of the teenagers in town, but Eva could hardly wait to get home and pass out.

But Eva didn't get that chance. Just as she finished brushing her teeth and was ready to crawl into bed, she heard the phone ring downstairs. She very willingly let her parents or Jake get it, as they were still up after having gone and watched Jake and Molly at another team penning practice. But shortly after the phone stopped ringing, she heard Jake call her name from the foot of the stairs.

"Eva, you have a phone call!" he yelled up.

Groaning as she threw her warm, comfy blankets to the side, Eva crawled out of bed and headed towards the stairs. Who in their right mind would be calling her now? She figured that it would be Leigha. Disappointed at her friend's lack of a social life, she'd been trying to convince her all week to go to a movie with her, her boyfriend, Mike, and his friend, Jason- which smelled like a set up to Eva. Not that she minded, but sleep was much more important than the newest slasher flick.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Eva was met by Jake's impish grin.

"What?" she asked as she took the phone.

"What kind of beau calls at this hour? Is it that guy Leigha's trying to set you up with? I can give him a stern talking to, if you like," Jake teased.

Rolling her eyes, Eva turned and walked up the stairs.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, dreading to hear who it was on the other end. She hoped it wasn't Mike's friend trying to guilt trip her into coming.

"Hey, Eva? It's Griffin."

"Oh!" Eva remarked, pleasantly surprised. "What's up? It's been a while."

"Well, we're in California campaigning some of the two year olds and I figured that I would call you and see how Glory is doing. I hope I got the time difference right. I didn't wake you up, did I?" Griffin asked.

"Well, I suppose I deserve it after waking you up that one time," Eva laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can call tomorrow if that's better for you…" he apologized. "It's only 8 here."

"Nah, it's fine," Eva consoled as she plopped down on her bed. "How's California?"

"Hot," Griffin laughed.

"Well, I figured as much," Eva replied, rolling her eyes. "What about the horses? They're what matters most."

"Pretty good," Griffin answered simply enough.

"Oh really? 'Pretty good?' The _Daily Racing Form_ begs to differ. Rumor has it that Cartouche is winning left and right," Eva said. "No need to be so modest, Griffin. Cartouche definitely deserves the spotlight."

"Cartouche is doing pretty well. He won his stakes race today by four lengths."

Eva rolled her eyes again, leaning back against her pillow. "Pretty well?" What happened to Griffin's former cocky attitude? Before Cartouche even set hoof on the track, he was completely assured of his colt's potential. But now that Cartouche was undefeated he suddenly discovered modesty?

"Well, that's good," Eva said, not wanting to push Griffin. If he wanted to be humble, so be it. "How about the other two year olds?"

"Clearly A Rocky is doing well. He hasn't been out of the top four yet. Maybe Clear, a filly by Clearly Dark and out of a Gone West mare, is looking to be a really nice sprinter, but it's taken her a couple races to come into her own. And Sweet Seattle, a filly we picked up at a Kentucky sale, is doing really well too. If she was a colt, she'd probably be giving Cartouche a run for his money," Griffin explained.

"Wow, that sounds impressive. It must be exciting to have horses you bred and trained win at the track," Eva mused, wondering if she'd have that chance with Glory.

"Yeah, it's fun," he replied rather flatly. "Enough about my horses. Speaking of the devil, how are things with Glory? I haven't heard much since you sent me that letter saying that you were going to train her as a racehorse."

"Well, definitely not as smooth as things on your end," Eva laughed, telling him about Glory's progress at Scott's and her never ending quest to find ways to give him trouble. She conveniently left out the working herself to death with two jobs- that was another, rather boring, story.

"Sounds like a descendent of the Black, right there. Talented like you'd never believe, but too smart for their own good," he replied. "Stick with her though, I'm sure she'll be worth it."

"You really think so?" Eva asked. "I've had my doubts."

"Well, everyone does. The first time I rode Cartouche, he planted me in the dirt. And then the second, and the third and the fourth time I had to pick myself up out of the dust, I began to wonder if it was really worth it," Griffin laughed. "But then when you finally do get them on the track and see them run… it just falls into place and you can see everything really is worth it. Of course, getting to stand in the winner's circle isn't that bad either."

Eva laughed, but was interrupted by a yawn. "Oh man, it's really late out there, isn't it?" Griffin asked.

"Eh, it's only about 11," Eva casually responded.

"11? Jeez, I've kept you up too long. I should probably let you go," Griffin said, sounding almost concerned.

"I'm not that tired, really," Eva lied, fighting another yawn.

"Sure," Griffin sarcastically replied. "If it makes you feel any better, I have an early start tomorrow, so I probably need to get to bed. Let me know how things with Glory are going, okay?"

"Only if you agree to brag about Cartouche," Eva bargained.

"Deal. I'll talk to you later, alright? Goodnight," Griffin said.

"'Night," Eva said as she waited to hear the other line click with finality.

Setting the phone down on her night table, Eva pulled her covers up to her shoulders. As tired as she was, she really didn't mind hearing from Griffin Ramsay. He was the last person she expected to call, but it really wasn't entirely unpleasant, though getting up in the morning would be. She wondered why he was so interested in Glory, but then again he was probably interested in many of Clearly Dark's foals for business reasons. Maybe they were interested in branching out their stud services to the stock horse racing circuit or perhaps they just wanted to showcase Dark's versatility as a stud. But no matter the reason, Eva admitted that it was nice to hear from him.

"Eva, wake up!"

Eva heard Cozzy's hooves tick the rail and then the resounding hollow clunk of it bouncing to the ground. Morning has come a lot sooner than Eva expected. It felt like her alarm clock went off as soon her head touched the pillow. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Dan standing in the middle of the arena with a rather cross expression on his face. That hadn't been the first rail Eva had knocked down that morning.

"I want you to do that course again and this time pay attention!" Dan ordered.

Sighing, Eva cued Cozzy to pick up the canter again. The gelding, while always obedient, felt flimsy today. But Eva figured that was because he was picking up on her emotions. She was just so tired she couldn't concentrate. She felt all over the place with thoughts of Glory, her conversation with Griffin, work and Cozzy flipping through her head. When she'd gotten done with her work at the stable early, all she wanted to do was go home and fit in a nap before she had to go to work at Tony's. She'd been managing to get some decent rides in on Cozzy, but Dan said she needed some lessons before the show next weekend. Now she was regretting taking up his offer.

The first fence was small- only being 3'3" –in comparison to the rest of the five fence course. If Eva only jumped once fence clear, she was determined that it would be this one. Pointing Cozzy in that direction, Eva cleared her mind of everything else: work, school, exhaustion, stress, friends, Griffin and Glory. Reassured by Eva's focus, Cozzy sailed over effortlessly. When Eva pushed everything else to the back of her mind, her riding marginally improved. She wasn't at her best, but at least she was clearing the jumps. The following jumps weren't flawless, but they were better than before. At least they stayed up.

The last two jumps were both 3'9" and very similar to what Eva would be seeing next weekend if she wanted to compete. This time around, she'd only tapped two other rails, which was a huge improvement considering her performance earlier. But now she needed to mentally step it up. Eva made sure nothing else existed in her head, other than her and Cozzy. She could hear his hooves softly pounding the sand as they floated across the outdoor arena, the sun beating down on their backs. Cozzy's white-gray ears were flicked forward as he spied the on coming jumps. They were ready.

Cozzy felt perfect as she took off and as they landed softly on the other side, Eva felt reassured. This was what Dan expected and also what Eva expected of herself. Now only one more to go, Eva thought as they closed in on the final jump. And just as Eva thought they were free and clear, she felt Cozzy's back hooves catch the top rail. Praying and hoping that it would just bounce back into place, Eva listened. In what seemed like hours later, she heard the ominous hollow clunking sound of the pole dropping to the ground.

Eva felt her heart sink to the bottom of her stomach. She'd been so sure they'd go clear, but she lost focus. As she slowed Cozzy and turned towards the middle of the arena, she saw that Dan was waiting for her, looking quite disappointed himself.

"I don't know what to think, Eva," Dan said, his tone somber as Eva stopped Cozzy in front of him.

"Dan, I'm sorry, I'm just not with it today," Eva apologized.

"I'll say," was Dan's only response.

Eva fixed her eyes on the pommel of her saddle, feeling like a reprimanded puppy. She wanted to do well, she really did. It wasn't like she was purposely screwing up, just to tick Dan off. No, she wanted to excel and she wanted to go into that show next weekend and prove that she could do it. But now she felt like she could hardly place in a leadline class.

"Honestly Eva, I want to see you go into that show next weekend and do well. But if you keep this up, it will only be a waste of money and time," Dan said, as if he read Eva's mind.

"I want to too, Dan," Eva quietly replied, daring to look up at him.

"Then what is this?" Dan exclaimed, pointing to the downed rail. "I can count the amount of rails you've knocked over in your whole riding career on one hand- or that was until today. I'm beginning to wonder if you have you priorities in the right place."

Unsure of what he meant by that, Eva looked up at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Dan paused, searching for words. "I mean, I think you're spreading yourself too thin. Working two jobs and schooling two horses in two different disciplines? That's a lot of work for anyone. I think you need to stick with that you're good at. You know how you've been training Dante, the chestnut gelding, for me? His owner loves what you've been doing with him and would love for you to show him this summer and he'd pay you cash to do it."

"Are you saying that I should give up on Glory?" Eva asked, still not wanting to believe him.

Dan looked like Eva was putting him between a rock and a hard place. "You have to realize, Eva, that sometimes things don't work out like you planned- no matter if you're racing horses or jumping them. We don't know how Glory will do, but you have a great thing going with Cozzy and I think you owe it to him and yourself. You could start training and working with hunters and jumpers full time, just like you always wanted to."

"_We_ don't know what Glory will do? Dan, _I_ know she's going to be amazing, she just needs a chance!" Eva protested, her raised voice startling the horse beneath her.

"Eva…" Dan started, shaking his head. "Just give it a thought. Meanwhile, you better go untack Cozzy. Standing in the sun listening to us bicker probably isn't good for him."

Sliding out of the saddle, Eva hit the ground with an ungraceful thud. She brought Cozzy's reins over his head and led him out of the arena, closing the gate behind her with a little more force than necessary. How could Dan say that? Granted, he'd never been Glory's number one fan, but he knew how much she meant to Eva. She knew Dan only wanted what he thought was best for her, but that was just it: it was what _he_ thought was best for her. Eva was sick of being babied- she was almost nineteen for goodness sakes!

With a huff, Eva replaced Cozzy's bridle with a halter and hastily attached the gray gelding to the crossties. Cozzy, upset by her abrupt motions, tossed his head and eyed Eva warily. "Sorry, Cozz," Eva gruffly apologized, patting the gelding's neck. Eva knew that she was being childish, but couldn't help herself. She was upset, not really at Dan, but at the entire situation. It was hard splitting her time between her two horses and her two jobs and not being able to properly enjoy her summer like any normal college kid. Yes, she was bummed that she didn't get to go out with Leigha last night, but she was also upset that her filly was an hour and a half away with someone who was practically a stranger and the horse she did have within a fifteen minute drive, she could hardly afford to spend time with. When she was younger, all she'd wanted to do was be a trainer, but now that she had the opportunity to ride horses like Dante- who was a very nice, very expensive, very talented Oldenburg gelding -for money and give lessons, it felt more like an imposition than a dream.

Upset, furious and disappointed, all Eva wanted to do was go home. Briefly, she thought about calling in sick to work, but then she remembered that Glory's board was due at the end of this week, the entry fee for the show needed to be sent soon and on top of it all, her truck was definitely thirsty. All Eva wanted to do was get out of here before Dan thought of something else to kill her dreams.

As she finished untacking him and giving him a once over with a currycomb to break up any sweaty patches, Eva attached a lead rope to Cozzy's halter as she unclipped him from the crossties and lead him to his stall. Once he was situated, Eva removed his halter and double checked his water, loathing to give Dan one more thing to complain about. Just as she was about to leave, she felt the gentle prodding of the gelding's soft nose touch her back. Turning, she met his kind, dark eyes and instantly melted. Overwhelmed by it all, Eva threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his soft, dappled coat, the tears- full of frustration, anger, uncertainty, disappointment and exhaustion -readily streaming out of her eyes.

"Oh, Cozzy, what would I do without you?" Eva asked the gelding while he quietly offered a shoulder for his friend to cry on.


	9. Chapter 9: Young Prospects, Old Dreams

Eva felt Dante move out beneath her as she cued him to an extended trot. The six year old chestnut was really a nice horse and Eva couldn't be happier with how he was performing. Of the three horses Dan had given her to ride and train- the other two being a eight year old bay Thoroughbred mare and a five year old Dutch Warmblood gelding –Dante was out shining them all. His owner, Mr. Butler, had high hopes for his horse, who he had bred out of his old hunter mare from one of the better stallions in the western circuits. But with bad knees, Mr. Butler had no ambitions to ride, show and jump Dante, but offered Dan and Eva a decent amount to campaign Dante for him. He'd already bred back his mare and was hoping for another colt to keep intact.

Three girls- Casey, Jenny and Blair –sat on the fence, watching Eva work the young gelding in preparation for the show. Occasionally, Eva would glance over at her fan club and smile. Casey was, by far, the most enthralled.

"Ooooh! Eva, take him over another jump!" Casey pleaded. "Blair didn't get to see how skippy he is!"

"Skippy?" Jenny asked. "Don't you mean 'scopey?'"

"Well, whatever," Casey replied. "Please Eva?

"Yeah, just one more time?" Jenny chimed in.

Jumping Dante wasn't exactly impressive- he'd only be doing baby green hunters this weekend, which maxed out at 2'9". He was a very neat jumper- loathing to tap a rail –and did have a lot of talent. Cozzy- who could clear 4 feet normally though Dan insisted that they only show 3'9"-was a much more spectacular jumper, in Eva's humble and definitely not biased opinion. But the girls were begging and pleading, and Casey even offered to groom Dante for her. One more jump wouldn't hurt him- the fiery chestnut gelding with four stockings and a stripe seemed to relish in his job.

Giving in, Eva pointed him towards one of the smaller, 2'6" fences. Dante popped over it without a flaw, causing Casey and Jenny to collectively "Ooooh" and "Ahhhh." Smiling, Eva patted the gelding's neck and brought him down to a walk, letting him have a loose rein. He was a really good horse and Eva had a blast riding him. Of course, he had his little baby quirks- he thought flower boxes were scary and bits loathsome –but if Mr. Butler wanted to sell him in a year's time, he could get a pretty penny. He'd definitely become a force to be reckoned with in the show ring, just like Glory was about to become a force to be reckoned with on the track.

Thoughts of Glory set anxious butterflies a-flittering in Eva's stomach. Unbeknownst to Dan, Eva had decided to take the day off at Tony's to go see the filly and give her some proper attention. As far as he was concerned, Glory was a lost cause, but Eva wasn't so sure. She vowed that she would give Glory at least one race before she gave Dan's advice an ounce of thought. Just one race to prove to everyone that she wasn't a fluke.

When Dante was all cooled out, Eva led him out of the arena, immediately to be assailed by pre-teen girls. The gelding took it all in stride, though he did jerk his head up a bit. He definitely had a sound mind for a green horse. Eva was excited to see how he would turn out.

"Eva, that was beyond cool!" Casey exclaimed.

"How many years did it take you to get that good?" Jenny asked.

"Only probably like a bazillion," Casey replied. "Man, I wish I could ride like that."

"Some day, I'm sure you will," Eva said. "In the mean time, would the paparazzi mind letting me get into the barn?"

The three girls parted, making way for Eva and Dante to get through, but they walked by Eva, chattering away. Casey was convinced that she and Zeus, the kindest, but definitely the plainest, lesson horse in the barn, were going to take reserve champion, only second to Eva. Jenny, however, begged to differ, saying that she and her black solid Paint mare, Midnight, could out jump them any day- after all, Midnight's legs were longer. As Casey and Jenny went back and forth with their friendly rivalry, Blair walked by them quietly. She looked a little anxious, but Eva couldn't imagine what about.

"Eva! Remember that you promised that I could groom Dante!" Casey reminded her as she put Dante on the crossties.

"Don't worry, I wasn't about to forget," Eva consoled. "Just let me get his saddle off, alright?"

"Can I help?" Jenny asked, reaching for a currycomb.

Before Casey could say anything, Eva answered, "Of course you can, two heads are better than one, right? Just be careful. Dante is really sweet, but he's still young."

Nodding, the girls grabbed handfuls of brushes and set to work on Dante. The gelding delighted in the thorough grooming, resting one hoof and allowing his eyelids to sink shut. Casey and Jenny quickly designated areas of the horse as theirs, to ensure that one didn't get to brush more of the illustrious gelding than the other. Allowing them to have at it, Eva grabbed some saddle soap and took a seat on a hay bale a short distance away. She figured that the girls would be alright, but it would be best to stick close by. Setting to work on her saddle, she hardly noticed Blair come up and sit down next to her.

"Why don't you go help them, Blair?" Eva asked. Blair had been quiet all day. Well, not to say that Blair was loud or anything, but she was certainly especially quiet today.

"Nah, I'm alright," Blair responded. "I actually wanted to ask you something…"

"Have at it," Eva encouraged, noting the doubt in Blair's voice.

"Well…" she began. "Can I go see Glory with you today?"

"How did you find out about that?" That was the one thing she hadn't expected her to ask. It wasn't like Eva going to see her own horse was top secret or anything, but she wasn't too keen on having Dan get wind of it.

"I heard you talking to Leigha about it in the feed room this morning," Blair answered. "I'm sorry, I just want to see how she's doing. While you were at school Dan let me help out with her a lot after Diva was sold and I miss her, I guess."

Eva had no idea Blair liked Glory so much. Actually, Eva didn't know anyone but _her_ liked Glory at all. It was almost refreshing to meet someone who didn't think she should drop the filly at the highest bid.

"Would your parents mind?" Eva asked. "I mean, it's kind of far away."

"Probably not. My mom knows that I really liked her, I wrote a report on her for a school project," Blair replied. "But I'll call and double check."

Eva bit her lip thoughtfully. She really wanted to spend some quality time with the filly by herself, but she'd been in Blair's shoes before. What she would have given to have a horse like Glory to dote on after Rainy had been sold! Craning her neck, Eva looked up and down the barn aisle. Only Casey and Jenny were in sight, debating over who was better qualified to brush out Dante's tail. Jenny argued that because she was taller, she was better equipped, but Casey quickly retorted that she was shorter, so that if he decided to kick, his hoof would go right over her head.

"You call your mom and ask," Eva whispered. "But as far as anyone else knows, I'm giving you a ride home before work. Okay?"

"Alright," Blair agreed, grinning, before she went to use the phone in the office to call her mother.

Thankfully, the summer sun still hung lazily in the sky as Eva pulled up next to a red trimmed barn. Looking over, Eva saw Blair's eyes widen with fascination as she replaced her soda in the cup holder. Although she'd given the girls lessons for a while now, Eva never realized how little she'd known about the tall, quiet, sandy haired girl. During the hour and a half ride, they shared horse stories over cheeseburgers and sodas. Eva found out that Blair had actually started riding dressage in Germany, while her dad was stationed there for the Air Force, and switched to hunters at Robin Glen when her family moved back to the States. Like many young riders, Eva couldn't imagine being given the chance to learn to ride in Germany of all places. Two years ago she would've killed for a chance to take a lesson from the likes of Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum or Bettina Hoy. Nowadays though, her dreams involved starting gates and photo finishes.

"Exciting, isn't it?" Eva commented, smiling at Blair as she climbed out of her truck. Nodding, Blair followed suit.

"I've seen big stables at shows around Denver and stuff, but this is really posh for Southern Colorado," Blair said, looking around.

"Just wait until you see the track. Scott said he'd wait to work Glory until we got here."

As if on cue, Eva saw Scott emerge from one of the barns and wave them over. Shoving her keys in her pocket, she trotted over to him, motioning for Blair to accompany her. Still in awe, it took a moment for Blair to catch up, sheepishly taking a place next to her friend.

"Hey Scott!" Eva cheerily greeted. "This is my friend, Blair. She's interested in Glory too."

"That filly has quite the little fan club, doesn't she?" Scott replied, chuckling a little. "Nick was just finishing saddling her up. If you want, we can go watch by the oval."

Nodding, Eva followed him to the fence by the oval, along the way asking how Glory was eating, how much time in the paddock she was getting and when he thought she would need new shoes again and if he wanted to go with the aluminum ones this time. In between questions, she turned and smiled at Blair, who thankfully looked enveloped by the surroundings rather than painfully shy. Propping one foot on the fence as she leaned against it, Eva shaded her eyes as she looked out onto the dirt track. Usually horses didn't work this late in the afternoon, considering the heat, but it was getting later in the afternoon and it hadn't been too hot. In fact, a couple of horses were out too.

"Glory prefers to work with company," Scott pointed out. "First Lady Too and Bugadash needed another workout before their run this weekend, so I figured I'd give her something to chase."

"Oh, they'll be the ones doing the chasing," Eva smirked.

Before Scott could retort- his initial criticism of Glory had turned into some good natured jesting –Blair spoke up. "Is that her now?" she asked, pointing out onto the track.

Sure enough, there was Glory head craned to one side as her striped hooves daintily pranced onto the track. Her exercise rider looked young, but competent- he'd have to be to deal with her chomping at the bit and skittering to and fro. With a nod from Scott, he gave her an inch of rein and she gracefully transitioned into a canter, the filly relishing in her new freedom. Eva couldn't believe how good she looked. The filly had always been on the lean side, but now her litheness was defined more by muscle than any sort of youth. And her legs! Their length easily ate up the track, even at a collected gait. They weren't as long as her Thoroughbred ancestors', but she was mighty leggy for a half Appaloosa. It seemed like every time she saw her, Glory looked more and more like a racehorse.

First Lady Too and Bugadash's rider came up for instructions, Scott reminding them to keep it a nice pace to save something for the real deal. The Quarter Horse and Paint fillies, Eva found out, were preparing for their first three year old graded stakes races. As a maiden filly, Glory definitely had some competent workout buddies. Eva was confidant that she could keep up at least, seeing as she kept on begging her jockey for more rein. The mares' riders navigated their mounts back towards the inside of the track as Glory approached. Holding the two mares back, they waited until Glory caught up. All three riders held the horses at a canter- none but the Quarter Horse filly willingly obeying –until the top of the straightaway.

As soon as they hit the pole, they were off. The Paint filly, who looked even more anxious than Glory, surged forward ahead of the two, her compact body powering her forward. They would be going about two furlongs, which was quite different than the Thoroughbred racing Eva had been watching. That didn't leave much room for a late start like Scott said Glory liked. Well, not that she liked having other horses in front of her, but he said having something in front of her nose really kicked her into gear. If she got too far out in front, she got lazy.

Bugadash didn't hold onto her lead for very long. In only a few strides, Glory and First Lady Too gained on her, but Glory's longer stride managed to take her just inches farther than the Quarter Horse. With every bound, Glory gained, never giving an inch, until at the 300 yard mark she was a neck ahead of Bugadash. Strides later, she was leaving the more experienced horses in the dust. And in what only seemed like moments later, she hit the 440 yard mark, with two fillies pulling up behind her.

"That was amazing!" Blair exclaimed, white knuckles gripping the fence.

Scott seemed less than pleased. "I told Nick not to let her all out. Doesn't do me any good to upset two of my good mares." Even though he grumbled, Eva noticed that he didn't sound too upset.

Despite her excitement- it was hard not to catch Blair's smiles –Eva reminded herself that it wasn't a real race and that the other mares had been gauged to preserve their strength. Just because she did well at home, didn't mean that she would do well out on a real track, especially since she preferred to come from behind. In stock horse racing, the distances were so much shorter that if Glory got caught in traffic, the race could very well be over with before she even got into gear.

"When are you going to race her? Can I come and watch?" Blair excitedly asked, the glow of Glory's accomplishment bringing her out of her shell.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about," Scott said, carefully eyeing the three horses as their riders cooled them down. Glory relished in her victory, giving her jockey a hard time as he tried to slow her down. Poor guy couldn't decide whether to make her trot- as Scott no doubt wanted –or let her shuffle as she pleased. Finally, Glory won out and eased into the lateral gait.

Turning from Glory, Eva gave Scott a quizzical look. After her workout today, it surely couldn't be anything bad. Could it?

"Like I mentioned, I'm trailering those two fillies and a smaller string up to Arapahoe this weekend. I know it's a little earlier than we planned, but I'd like to take Glory up for her maiden."

Eva didn't quite know what to say. Glory, racing?! It had been the plan all along but now they were really going for it! There was a date set and everything, only…

"Isn't this weekend the big horse show?" Blair asked, as if she had read Eva's mind.

"Yeah," Eva quietly agreed, her enthusiasm draining from her face. "I have a couple of horses to ride that Saturday."

Figures, Eva thought to herself. Granted, Glory could still go, but Eva would loathe to have her filly race without her there. She knew it was a little selfish, but she didn't want Glory to race if she couldn't see it.

"The maidens, along with a couple allowances and claiming races, are held on Friday. If your show is on Saturday, you could ride up with us on Thursday and then ride back down with my barn manager and the two year olds Friday night," Scott suggested.

Wheels began to turn in Eva's head. Granted, Dan would probably rather have her ride Dante and Cozzy on Friday before the show, but if she gave them a good work on Thursday before she left, maybe a day of rest before the show would help. If nothing else, maybe Leigha could take a spin on Cozzy for her and lounge Dante. She still had a feeling that Dan wouldn't share in her excitement, but he couldn't complain if they did well. After her bad lesson with Dan, Eva was proud to report that she'd picked up her game, especially with Dante. Mr. Butler was sure not to be displeased with the gelding's performance Saturday.

Across the track, Glory was trying to sneakily snake her neck out to take a bite out of the Quarter Horse mare before Nick intercepted her mischief. Despite not having the advantage of being in training for almost a year like other two year olds, the blue roan was truly coming into her own. How could Eva deny her the chance to finally prove herself?

"Sign me up," Eva smiled.


	10. Chapter 10: Back and Forth

Standing outside Glory's stall in barn number eight- which coincidentally looked just like barns seven, nine, six, twelve and two –it was easy to become enveloped in the chaos. Grooms rushed between horses, jockeys sized up their mounts and trainers barked orders. It wasn't too much unlike a horse show, but there was a different feeling in the air. It was almost like the pace of events took on the speed of the racetrack- everything happened at a mile a minute. Down the row, Eva spotted Scott walking her way. Setting down the brush she'd been using moments before, Eva grabbed Glory's leadrope off the hook.

"You ready? It's time to take Glory to the paddock to be saddled," Scott asked. Despite all the excitement, he still seemed pretty cool, but Eva supposed that he would be. How long had he been doing this for?

Nodding, Eva snapped the rope onto Glory's leather halter, which had been a good luck gift from her parents. Everyone back home seemed just as excited as Eva for this day. Leigha had heartily agreed to help her friend out with Cozzy and Dante, Terry had sent a few carrots with her for Glory and Blair, in her sheepish way, asked if Eva could call her after the race and tell her how it went, if it wasn't too much trouble.

Following Scott, who juggled their racing gear in one hand and adjusted his sunglasses with the other, all while giving orders to his barn manager, Eva led Glory from the barns. Just like any other day, Glory was full of herself. She danced and flared her nostrils, taking in her surroundings and enjoying every minute of it. Nerves didn't even seem to phase the filly, though they were sure doing a number to her owner's stomach.

Eva held Glory as Scott saddled her, taking a chance to scope out the field. In the seven horse maiden for two year old Appaloosa and Paint fillies, Glory was definitely one of the bigger horses at a hair above 16.3 hands. She was also only one of three Appaloosas and the only colored one at that. The other two- a dark bay filly by the Quarter Horse stallion Darkelly and a sorrel by Zevis Scooter Bug –accentuated both Glory's color and height. The two of the Paint fillies in the field, a bay tobiano and a solid sorrel, came close to Glory's height as they patiently waited to be saddled.

"Watch out for Kelly Go Far and Country Cousin," Scott instructed Glory's jockey, Steven Nelson, as he painted to the dark bay and bay tobiano fillies. Steven had come well recommended from Scott as the rider of many of his better horses, including Circle Six's star, Texas Special.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Steven coolly commented looking at the other horses. "She's a powerhouse, and if we hold her back until the 220 mark, she'll surely kick it into gear."

The distance of the race- a brief 350 yards –was the one thing that worried Eva. They could only taunt Glory so long before she'd need the room to make a move. If they waited too long or didn't have an opening, it could be too late. Steven's confidence, however, consoled Eva the slightest bit. Hopefully he knew what he was doing out there.

"You be good, okay girl?" Eva said to Glory, taking the filly's head in her heads so she could drop a kiss on her velvety nose. Snorting, Glory jerked her head out of Eva's grasp to look at a filly walking behind her. Her back leg cocked, but at Eva's warning she set it back down. "Show 'em on the track, Glory, not in the paddock."

Before she knew it, it was the call for rider's up and Scott was giving Steven a leg up. Although he'd ridden her before, Glory still skittered across the paddock, testing him. Thankfully, he took up the reins and reminded her who was boss as they walked to the track. As Scott departed with them, leading Glory, Eva felt the slightly overwhelmed. Glory was out of her hands now and it was all up to Scott's tutelage, Steven's hand and fate to decide her future.

Retreating to the stands, Eva picked up a program on the way, if for nothing else than to have something to fidget with to calm her nerves. The first two horses loaded into the gate obediently, while the third put up a fuss. Even after she was loaded, the sorrel overo continued to fidget. Glory was next and looked like she was about to go smoothly until right before the gate when the number three horse kicked out, making a big racket. Balking, Glory had to be led around to the gate again before she would go in. Thankfully, the rest of the horses followed without much to do.

"Excited yet?" Scott asked as he sat down next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Going out of my mind with anticipation is more like it," Eva replied, eyes sill fixed on the loading fillies.

Scott smiled. "If Glory has the trip I'm thinking she'll have, she should do pretty well. Maybe at least make you some money to account for the entry fee."

All Eva could do was nod, eyes fixed on the gate as the seventh horse finished loading. This day seemed almost surreal; who would've thought that they'd come this far? When she'd purchased Glory she'd never imagined her a racehorse. In any other situation, Glory would probably be prepping for the same show she'd be taking Cozzy and Dante to tomorrow. In hand classes would suit her well. While Eva would have wanted to point her more towards eventing, there was no denying she was a pretty horse. She could clean up at the hunter in hand classes.

But instead of standing pretty in front of judges, Glory was standing in anticipation in the starting gate. After what seemed like forever, the bell sounded and the gates flew open. Glory's first race had begun!

Its beginning, however, left much to be desired. The sorrel overo filly, the one that had caused all the commotion in the gate, bumped Glory on her way out. After Glory had a bit of a stumble, she bounced back with a vengeance, striding in front of the offending filly. Another filly, the solid sorrel Paint, fell victim to Glory's ground eating strides as Eva's filly easily bounded past her. Just as Glory was about to zoom up the middle, the sorrel Appaloosa and a gray Paint closed the gap in front of her. Throwing her head as Steven tightened his grip on the reins, Glory broke her long strides to prevent a collision. Slowing down was the last thing Glory wanted to do; Eva could read her frustration from the stands as horse and rider idled in fifth place. Seeing horses in front of her and not being allowed to chase them down infuriated the filly. Eva could see her trying harder and harder to grab the bit.

In a last ditch effort, right before the 220 mark, Steven swung Glory to the far outside and away from the congestion. The move gave them a clear path, but all that navigating had allowed a horse behind them to gain momentum. Trying to avoid sixth place, Eva saw Steven finally give Glory her head back. The shift in gears was notable. Glory powered forward, her muscular black and white hindquarters advancing her forward. With ease, she passed the sorrel Appaloosa who was falling back and was neck and neck with the gray Paint as they flashed under the wire.

That was it? Eva could hardly believe it. She had been worried that it would go by all too soon for Glory, but reality sunk in. Glory seemed equally in disbelief. Even though the race was over and the field was winding down to slow gallops and canters, she still continued to strain against Steven, refusing to slow. She knew she wasn't done yet! Only after she passed the gray and two other horses did she finally relent, albeit grudgingly.

"Nobody tell her she didn't win," Scott commented as he started the trek to go collect Glory. "At least she might've had her nose in front for third, eh?"

"That's it?" Eva reiterated to no on in particular, only aloud this time. Flabbergasted, she followed Scott.

It hadn't been the race, but the fight that had taken it out of Glory, or so Steven said. By the time Eva snapped the lead rope on her as they walked off the track, the filly's spotted coat was dark with sweat. Steven said that she could've run a million more miles if he'd asked her too, but a bad start and being trapped had incensed her. Even now, off the track, Glory's competitive drive was still on. She pulled Eva past any other horse and even attempted to take a bite out of an exercise pony.

"Glory, stand!" Eva reprimanded. She didn't have any easier of a time hosing her down. While Glory normally enjoyed her baths, especially on days like this, she skittered back and forth just out of the water's reach. Eva's own disappointment and dissipating nerves probably did nothing for the situation either. She was so sure Glory would win! How could she not? Look at her sire, look at her grandsire! Even her Appaloosa lines, while more modest than the fillies she had been up against, were nothing to be ashamed of. Even her physical structure screamed racehorse- why did fate seem so resistant?

Finally, Glory stood. She held her head high, eyes wide and nostrils flared pink, with her tail flagged, but at least she was still for once. Crooning to Glory, Eva splashed her hot back with water, smiling as she watched the slightest bit of tension disappear from the horse's muscles. "There you go girl. See, isn't that better?" Eva consoled as she gave Glory her bath.

"I've got some good news and some bad news for you," Scott announced as Eva finished hosing her down. Without waiting for her response, he continued, "The bad news is that Glory lost third place by a nose."

Eva, who had momentarily forgotten about the photo finish, groaned. Fourth out of a seven horse field wasn't that great. Glory did have a bad start though, she reminded herself. If the sorrel overo hadn't bumped her, who knows how the race might've ended up?

"And the good news?" she asked, hoping for something substantial as she returned Glory to her stall for the moment. They wouldn't be returning home for another couple of hours.

"I am proud to report that Dark Dawn Glory officially has a lifetime earning of $37.50. Congratulations," Scott remarked as he handed Eva an envelope.

Oh boy, Eva sarcastically though to herself.

"$40?" Leigha asked incredulously, as she helped Eva spray some Show Sheen on Dante's glistening copper coat. "That hardly seems worth it."

Eva, surprised by Leigha's lack of support and still stinging from the previous day, turned to look at her friend. "Well, it could've been worse, she could've been trapped for the whole race."

"Yeah," Leigha admitted. "But don't you wonder if it's really worth it? How much money have you sunk in that filly so far? There's no guarantee that she'll be a racehorse."

Despite the fact that they were at a horse show, Eva made no effort to contain her annoyance with her best friend. "Leigha, you're beginning to sound like Dan! Don't you think I know that?" Dante jumped a little at the harsh sound of her voice, but was placated by Leigha's calming hand on his neck.

"Cool your jets," Leigha advised her as she tightened Dante's girth. "But I do have to agree with Dan, sort of at least. You're spreading yourself awfully thin. Working two jobs and balancing races and shows, I mean. Look at you- you look awful! I can't even imagine how sleep deprived you are."

It didn't help matters any that Eva conveniently decided to yawn at that moment. Although she had a hard time admitting it, Leigha and Dan both had a point. But why was everyone so quick to write off Glory? Fourth place in her first race, that wasn't so bad. It didn't help that everyone, Eva especially, had had such high hopes for the filly. Scott reassured her that it sometimes took a while for a horse to break their maiden.

"And school starts back up soon, not to mention all the big hunter shows you and Cozzy have been working towards are right around the corner. How are you going to do everything at once?" Leigha asked, sounding more sympathetic this time.

"Well, Scott said he was going to take Glory down to Oklahoma with his string to give her another shot. They're leaving in two weeks and will be gone until after we leave for school. That should leave me some time to prepare for the Summer Classic, though I do need to pull in some more hours to pay for her shipping and entry fees…" Eva mused aloud, as she climbed aboard Dante.

"Girl, you're crazy," Leigha said, shaking her head as Eva rode away.

While her head was in the clouds, Dante proved the perfect gentleman in the warm up ring. Although it was the last class, he showed no signs of stress from being cooped up for most of the day. Even when a less than pleased Dutch mare cut in front of him, startling Eva, he plodded along like an old school pony. Shaking her head, Eva put thoughts of Glory aside. The day so far hadn't proved too awful, though she freely admitted that she could've done better. She and Cozzy managed a 2nd in Working Hunter, but Eva's mind wandered in the Hunter Under Saddle class- they'd barely escaped with 6th place. No doubt, Dan hadn't been too happy about that and Eva could've kicked herself for letting an easy class pass by them. She's never qualify for the Summer Classic like this. Fortunately, Open Hunters had gone better, the pair leaving with 4th place.

Dante and Mr. Butler inflicted less pressure on the frazzled Eva. After Mr. Butler reassured her that it was just enough to see him showin, Eva managed to put her nerves aside for the most part. She never got this nervous! What was with that? Taking a deep breath, Eva settled into her seat and asked Dante to pop over a small cross rail. Naturally, he sailed over it. Eva smiled; she couldn't ask for a nicer horse to ride.

Maybe Dan had a point. Eva _was_ good at this. She could negotiate a hunter course on just about any horse you handed her and had done well in jumpers and eventing in her younger years. Sitting in the saddle, navigating a course just felt so natural- it was good to be good at something for once. However, the thought of giving up on Glory put a pang of sadness on her heart. She just needed to find a balance.

"Thanks for the ride, Lei!" Eva shouted as Leigha's Jetta zoomed down the Kavanaugh's gravel driveway. Stepping into the house, she dropped her show gear in the front hall and went to stick the doggy bag left over from their victory dinner in the fridge. Her mother would have something to say about her show jacket lying on the floor, but that could wait until later. It wasn't every day a girl qualified for the Summer Classic and Dante won his first Hunter class! Though the previous day's disappointment was still there, it was nice to have a lucky turn of events now and again.

But as with all good things, it wasn't sure to last. After setting the Styrofoam box in the fridge, Eva grabbed the entry form for the Classic Dan had given her and took it into the living room, shedding her riding clothes along the way. Falling into the soft, cushy couch, Eva's blue eyes perused the form, but stopped at the very bottom.

"$200?! For an entry fee?!" she groaned, falling over onto a throw pillow. "How am I ever going to come up with that?"

By next week, she needed $100 to enter Glory in her race, plus the costs of shipping and keeping her down in Oklahoma for several weeks. She had guessed that the entry fee for the Classic would be steep- only the best riders qualified –but $200 seemed a little excessive. Not to mention that there was no extra padding in Eva's bank account to cover it and it was too late to ask for more hours at the grocery store.

After two days of intense ups and downs, Eva easily flustered over the decision. She wanted Glory to race, but she had worked hard to qualify. But then again, there would be other shows and she figured she and Cozzy could use the time to practice. But after today, it was hard to say no to the Classic. She knew she would do well there. If she really buckled down with Cozzy between now and then, it was a sure bet. Sending Glory to Oklahoma though…It wasn't what the wistful, romantic side of her wanted to do, but Eva knew Dan would be proud. Resigned, she reached for the phone to tell Scott the news.

But just as her fingertips brushed the receiver, the phone came to a raucous life. At first, Eva jumped. How weird was that? Maybe it was Scott calling to say that he'd rather keep Glory in state and try Arapahoe Park again. That would make her life all the easier. And affordable.

"Hello?" Eva said, picking up the phone.

"Hi, is Eva there?" a voice that rang familiar asked.

"Yeah… Griffin, is that you?"

He chuckled. "You're good."

Eva blinked. She hadn't expected him to call of all people. Sure, they infrequently exchanged letters, keeping each other up to date on the horses, but it was more friendly business than anything. "I didn't expect you to call. Good timing though."

"You mean it's not 2 am there? Darn," he teased.

Eva rolled her eyes and while he couldn't have seen it, it was audible through her tone. "No, I mean I just walked in the door."

"That is good then," he replied. "I just wanted to call and see how Glory was doing. I hadn't heard anything from you in a while."

Eva heaved a heavy sigh. "That bad?" Griffin asked.

Eva related to Griffin everything that had happened since the last time she'd updated him. Glory's early success in training, smoking the older fillies in a work out, the excitement over her first race and her rough trip. Even things she didn't mean to mention- like taking a second job to pay for Glory's training, Dan's disapproval, her poor performance on Cozzy as of late –fell out of her mouth. All the frustrations and elations of the summer came pouring through the line.

"Welcome to horse racing," Griffin consoled, his smile detectable even though the phone.

"You mean this is what it's always like?" Eva huffed.

"No, not necessarily," he started, pausing to think about his words. "But be prepared for the downs with the ups. We've had some decent horses over the past few years, but nothing amazing. It's hard when you're used to winning streaks- or want one so bad –to deal with mediocrity for a while. You've put so much into Glory, what with flying out here to badger me, training her and heck, even finding somebody to train her was an accomplishment in and of itself. It'd be a shame to give up on her now, Eva. That'd be like me just up and selling Cartouche."

Nodding, Eva took his advice in. Getting the perspective from someone else involved with racing helped console her. "I don't know… I think I might just running Glory at Arapahoe again when Scott gets back. What's another month of waiting?"

"Your call," Griffin replied. "But just remember that everything will work out how it's supposed to. Don't worry so much about the future that you forget about the present."

Eva's mumbled reply wasn't convincing enough for Griffin. "Hey now, don't diss advice from the owner of the top two year old in the country!"

She had to laugh at his outburst of egotism, though the Daily Racing Form would back up that statement. Cartouche was becoming quite the darling of the racing world. "Oh, that's right. Number one trainer too?"

"Assistant trainer, thank you very much," he playfully corrected.

"Whatever!" she responded with lighter spirits. "I have to go call Glory's trainer. Talk to you again soon, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember what I said: take things as they come and don't question it!"

"I'll file that cliché bit of sage advice for sure. Good night Griffin."

Although she felt he wanted to retort to that, Griffin settled for a simple goodbye before they hung up. Prying off her tall boots, which felt like heaven after her long day, Eva looked up at the clock. It was 11 pm already? She and Griff needed to kick their penchant for these late night talks, it was really interfering with her beauty sleep. Calling Scott at this hour, Eva decided, would be quite inappropriate. Not to mention clean pajamas, or at least ones with marginally less horse hair and alfalfa hay on them, and her bed sounded particularly divine. Business could wait until morning.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Unexpected Places

Author's Note: Wow, has it been a while or what? That pesky work and school things prevents much writing these days and my old laptop having gone through a windshield didn't help much either! Hope I still have some readers out there, and many thanks to those who continue to read and review! Here's a tidbit to keep you going, and I promise more of Glory's sassy self in the near future!

She could hear the thunder of his hooves underneath her, but the old gray gelding felt light as air as they switched leads, looking for the next jump. There, the red and white striped 3'6" vertical. Eva pointed Cozzy towards it and the old man happily agreed, springing himself smartly over the obstacle as easily as any younger mount. He may have been a whole fourteen years of age, but Cozzy wasn't about to be left behind.

Applying gentle pressure to her inside rein- that was really all the communication the talented gelding needed –Cozzy slowed down into the curve until Eva's deeper seat settled him into a walk. Maybe the show the last weekend was all Eva has needed to really get her head back into the game. It felt like everything just… clicked. Riding Cozzy seemed almost effortless, or more like the communication between them was so subtle you'd swear it was telepathic. If only everything could be this carefree.

While her training with Cozzy, Dante and the other horses Dan had her riding was going swimmingly, Eva still hadn't made the phone call to Scott. She knew- or rather figured that she knew –what her decision was now. The smart thing was to enter the Summer Classic, and indeed, all the paper work was sitting on the passenger seat of her truck, ready to be dropped in the post box outside of Tony's Grocery. But she just couldn't bring herself to pick up the phone. She couldn't afford both- Eva was already practicing frugality to the extreme just to pay for the costs of the show, in addition to boarding and Glory's training. There would be other races for Glory and she didn't want to over race the filly and stand the chance of burning her out. She felt she owed something to Cozzy though- the old man deserved a chance to shine.

"I guess this being an adult business isn't as easy as I thought," Eva sighed, reaching down to smooth Cozzy's pepper colored mane into place.

"Can we start warming up, Ev?" Jenny shouted from the arena gate, her black mare's reins clutched in her hand.

Oh, wow. Time really flew when you just saddled up for a quick spin around the arena. In no time at all it seemed like her class was here. "Yeah, sure thing!" she chimed. "You girls come on in and walk a couple laps with me."

Chattering with anticipation, Jenny and Midnight and Casey and the fuzzy golden Zeus mounted up and proceeded to warm up. But where was the last leg of the trio? Stopping her mount, Eva stood in her stirrups to look out at the stable. Surely Blair wasn't late…? That seemed so out of place for her. But just as she was about to turn and ask the other girls, a lone figure emerged from the barn, helmet in hand, headed towards the arena.

"What's up, B?" Eva inquired, trotting up to the rail. "Saddle up, we're almost ready to get started!"

Blair didn't even look up at Eva, her short dark hair falling in front of the rest of her face. What was this? Eva wondered. Blair wasn't as chatty as her saddle buddies, but far from anti-social. And was that a sniffle Eva heard?

"Macy's left hind is swollen. It's not too bad, but Dan says she should have some time off. Not the filly she used to be," came Blair's quiet reply.

What a bummer! Eva could very well sympathize with those days. It sucked not having your own horse. Everything was out of your control. You couldn't ride whenever you wanted, show when you wanted and heck, half the time you couldn't use your own tack. Some people got lucky, like Casey and Zeus. There weren't many people who could ride the smallest horse (or perhaps largest pony?) in the stable and bubbly little Casey was a perfect match for him. But for Blair, it was hard to find a horse to match her size and skill level. The blue roan Quarter Horse Neptune was just tall enough to accommodate her long legs, but she'd soon find herself dreadfully bored. Macy, the nineteen year old Hanoverian mare, had the experience from a long career as an accomplished hunter, but her joints weren't too forgiving these days. The vet gave her the okay to pop over small fences still and on warm days her movement still mirrored a champion, but some days the old bay just felt old.

Sympathy tugged at her heart strings. Eva wasn't about to let creaky joints ruin Blair's day. Swinging a leg over her saddle, she motioned Blair into the arena. "Cozzy still has some kick in his heels left. Why don't you ride him today?" Eva offered, handing her the reins.

Blair's eyes lit up at the prospect. Cozzy was by no means some legendary champion, but he wasn't an old goat either. In fact, he'd probably be the most exciting horse Blair had ridden since Diva. "Eva, I couldn't…" she started.

But Eva would hear none of it. "It's fine, trust me! You girls won't be jumping anything he hasn't seen before and it'll be a nice, low key day for him. And he's already warmed up- how can you refuse?"

Hesitantly, Blair took the proffered reins. She checked the stirrup length and the girth before hopping on, take a minute to get used to the feel of the 16.2 hand gelding. Being half Percheron, he had a bit more width and muscle to him than plain ol' Warmbloods, but it did nothing to hinder his movement. Eva was kind of excited, she had to admit. It'd be a good time to see how Cozzy moved for herself, and not to mention she knew just how Blair felt right now. It was a little something like Christmas morning and new shoes all together.

"Alright ladies! Let's start with some ground work and see how much you remember from last week. Take a couple laps at a trot to work on your position while I place some cones."

"Letting someone else do the work on your prized steed, I see?" Dan inquired slyly, watching as Casey, Jenny and Blair led their respective mounts back to the barn to be untacked.

"Don't you worry," Eva retorted as she bent to pick up a cone. "I took him for a little spin first. I figured it'd be a good experience for Blair and a nice break for Cozzy too. He can't always be looking fabulous, sailing over a 3'9" course. I don't want to discourage everyone else at the barn."

Chuckling at her mock egotism, Dan helped her collect the cones and set them in the storage shed where they'd wait until next time. "So does your bravado tell me that you've made a decision?"

Eva nodded. "Entry form and check ready to be mailed, sitting on the seat of my truck."

She couldn't help but notice the small satisfied smile on Dan's face. "Well, you'd better start riding your own horse then!" He joked. "Although Blair did look really good out there. I daresay you'll have some competition here soon, if that girl can ever get a good horse under her. I never thought I'd miss that harebrained Thoroughbred, but antics or no, at least Blair had a horse to ride with Diva."

"Who knows?" Eva mused as the two walked towards the barn. "Maybe her Cozzy is hiding somewhere too."

"I don't know how many more muddy half Warmblood, half trained hunter prospects we have hiding in the woodwork around here! Maybe we ought to go checking people's back pastures, asking people how much they want for that Heinz 57 brown horse we think we might be able to turn into a champ," Dan joked. He had a point amidst his humor- Eva had been lucky to trip across a find like the gray gelding. Good show prospects usually cost a good bit more than the song and dance she'd paid for him.

Just as she was about to remark on her own luck with finding cheap horses- Glory had been practically given to her, after all –Eva's eyes happened to catch sight of the clock on the wall. "Shoot!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to be late for work!"

"Well off with you then!" Dan shooed. "Don't worry, I'll make sure the girls put the ponies away. I won't have you miss the Classic because you can't afford the gas to drive up there!"

Thanking her instructor profusely and waving a quick goodbye to her pupils, Eva snatched her purse from the barn office and hurried to her car. Blindly, she fumbled in the depths of her purse for her keys, only to come up with her cell phone and some chapstick. Throwing the latter back into the black hole, she checked her phone with one hand, while she continued to root for her keys with the other. There were, of course, several texts from Leigha reprimanding her for never checking her phone and asking if she wanted to go bowling with her, Mike and Jason. (Which conveniently had a little winky face next to the last name- Eva rolled her eyes) Along with a new voicemail from none other than the person she had been dreading talking to- Scott. Heaving a sigh, she held the phone up to her ear as she finally unlocked her door and slid inside to start the engine.

"Hey Eva, long time no chat, so I figured I'd ring you up about Oklahoma," the voice message started, making Eva's stomach do an involuntary flip flop. It was a lot harder saying no to Glory than it was saying yes to Cozzy. "I got all your money this morning, entry fees, shipping, boarding, the whole kit and caboodle. Your sugar daddy-I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh! However you pay your bills, girl, I'm not picky about my money –called and arranged it over the phone. At an ungodly hour too- you oughta buy your sweetie a watch! Anyways, we're all set to leave here in a week and a half. I'll probably give her a week's more rest and put her back into work next Wednesday…"

Eva hardly heard the rest of the message. Everything was paid for? But how? And since when did she have a "sugar daddy?" Oh no… it wasn't Jason trying to pay for her affections? He was a nice guy, really, but she just didn't have time for a boyfriend. If he thought he could buy his way into her time… but that didn't make any sense. Eva couldn't imagine him being a college student, working on his parent's dairy farm during the summer, could afford that. And it couldn't be Dan. Not only did Scott know his voice, Eva couldn't imagine him going so far as to support Glory's career in such a way. Scott had specified "sugar _daddy_-" what other guys did she know who'd go out on a limb like that?

No matter who it was, Eva couldn't decide if she was relieved or insulted that someone had fronted the money for her. On one hand, Glory got another chance to prove herself without Eva having to give up on the Classic. Of course, that was ideal and Eva couldn't complain about that. But then again, Cozzy and Glory were _her_ horses and _her_ responsibility. Did someone not think she could take care of her own and needed anonymous handouts? But then again, there was that thing about looking gift horses in the mouth…

Questions a plenty or no, Eva hadn't the time to sit and ponder as she reached for a spare set of work clothes she kept in the backseat of her old truck. (Which may or may not have been covered in a light dusting of horse hairs and alfalfa) Work waited for no such mystery and she'd already be five minutes late clocking in. Maybe she should just take a sage bit of advice and learn to take things as they come. And just as she was about to shut the truck door, she reached back in to grab an envelope before rushing into work. She couldn't really say no now.


End file.
